(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-464A-3a, PA

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from Petersen's, a Honesdale, Pennsylvania business. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. Petersen's produced 30 cataloged die varieties, reflecting a substantial token operation. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 464A-3a) is common for this merchant. Although undated, this token was produced during the 1862-1864 period when federal coins disappeared from commerce. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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 30 cataloged varieties, Petersen's was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 464A-3a