(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-510AC-1b, WI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, cataloged as Fuld 510AC-1b. Milwaukee's thriving German-American merchant community made it the center of Wisconsin's Civil War token production. This brass striking (Fuld 510AC-1b) is common to somewhat scarce among the known varieties. This undated piece entered commerce during the 1862-1864 period when millions of private tokens replaced vanished federal coinage. 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 brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings. Token production peaked in 1863 when the coin shortage was most acute, with die sinkers working around the clock to fill merchant orders.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 2 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 510AC-1b