(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-500G-2A, IN

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Indiana, cataloged as Fuld 500G-2A. Indiana was an important agricultural and manufacturing state, with merchants producing store cards as emergency currency when federal coinage was hoarded. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 500G-2A) 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. The token era ended when Congress authorized new federal small-denomination currency and criminalized private token production in 1864. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

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 2 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 500G-2A