(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-385D-5A, OH

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Hamilton, Ohio, cataloged as Fuld 385D-5A. Ohio produced more varieties of Civil War store cards than any other state, driven by Cincinnati's role as the largest inland city and a Union Army supply hub. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 385D-5A) is common for this merchant. Undated Civil War tokens like this one circulated alongside dated issues during the 1862-1864 period. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. 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 11 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a notable token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 385D-5A