(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-370A-4A, IN

Coin Details

Description

E. & L. Small, based in Hagerstown, Indiana, produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. E. & L. Small issued 9 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 370A-4A) is common for this merchant. The absence of a date on this token is standard for the 1862-1864 era, when speed of production mattered more than formality. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. Over 25 million Civil War tokens were produced before Congress ended private coinage in April 1864, making them the largest private coinage movement in American history.

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 9 cataloged varieties, E. & L. Small was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 370A-4A