(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-530E-4A, MI

Coin Details

Description

Civil War-era store card from Kellogg & Co., a Kalamazoo, Michigan business. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 4 known varieties, Kellogg & Co. produced a modest number of token types. This copper striking (Fuld 530E-4A) is common among the known varieties. Like the majority of Civil War store cards, this token is undated, produced during the acute 1862-1864 small change crisis. Merchants typically ordered tokens from die-sinkers who maintained inventories of patriotic and advertising dies for rapid production. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. After Congress banned private coinage in 1864, surviving tokens became instant collectibles, with serious collecting beginning within a decade of the war's end.

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 4 cataloged varieties, Kellogg & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 530E-4A