(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-588A-1A, MI

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 588A-1A — store card of Van Duyn & Lynch, Manchester, Michigan. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 4 known varieties, Van Duyn & Lynch produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 588A-1A) 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. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. Civil War store cards are collected both as numismatic items and as historical documents of wartime American commerce.

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, Van Duyn & Lynch was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 588A-1A