(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-35A-1A, MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from D.W. Richardson, an Almont, Michigan business. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. With 2 known varieties, D.W. Richardson produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 35A-1A) is common for this merchant. No date appears on this token, consistent with the rapid production practices of the 1862-1864 Civil War token boom. Die sinkers offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

Rarity Notes

Copper strikings are generally the most common metal variant for Civil War store cards, as copper was the standard planchet material mimicking the federal cent. With 2 cataloged varieties, D.W. Richardson was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 35A-1A