(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-35B, 1B CT

Coin Details

Description

A.W. Wallace's of Connecticut produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Connecticut was a major arms manufacturing center, with Colt in Hartford and Winchester in New Haven. Its merchants issued tokens alongside the munitions output. With 3 known varieties, A.W. Wallace's produced a modest number of token types. No date appears on this token, consistent with the rapid production practices of the 1862-1864 Civil War token boom. Each unique combination of obverse and reverse dies constitutes a separate Fuld catalog number, even when struck in the same metal. The token era ended when Congress authorized new federal small-denomination currency and criminalized private token production in 1864. Many Civil War tokens survive in high grades because merchants and the public saved them as novelties, resulting in a better average preservation than contemporary federal coins.

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 3 cataloged varieties, A.W. Wallace's was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 35B