(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-370J-1FP, MI

Coin Details

Description

L.H. Randall, a Grand Rapids merchant, issued this Civil War store card during the 1862-1864 coin shortage. Grand Rapids was a growing commercial center in western Michigan, famous for its furniture manufacturing and lumber industry. With 3 known varieties, L.H. Randall produced a modest number of token types. Like the majority of Civil War store cards, this token is undated, produced during the acute 1862-1864 small change crisis. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

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, L.H. Randall was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 370J-1FP