(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-420B-1b, WI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Manitowoc, Wisconsin, cataloged as Fuld 420B-1b. Wisconsin was a growing frontier state with Milwaukee as its largest commercial center, and its merchants issued tokens as practical solutions to the coin shortage. This brass striking (Fuld 420B-1b) is common to somewhat scarce among the known varieties. Civil War tokens rarely bear dates. This piece was struck during the 1862-1864 coin shortage, when merchants needed emergency small change. 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 brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 9 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 420B-1b