(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-555C-10B, NJ

Coin Details

Auction Record

$228 MS66 04-15-2021 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War store card from Newark, New Jersey, cataloged as Fuld 555C-10B. New Jersey was a vital industrial and transportation state, with Newark, Trenton, and Paterson as major manufacturing centers where merchants issued Civil War tokens. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 555C-10B) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. This undated token was struck circa 1862-1864 during the wartime coin shortage. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Merchant-issued tokens circulated as substitutes for scarce federal coinage throughout the Northern states between 1862 and 1864. Brass strikings are among the more available variants, though less common than copper. 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

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 38 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 555C-10B