(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-600A-1A, CT

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from Willmantic, Connecticut, cataloged as Fuld 600A-1A. Connecticut was a major arms manufacturing center, with Colt in Hartford and Winchester in New Haven. Its merchants issued tokens alongside the munitions output. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 600A-1A) is common for this merchant. Civil War tokens rarely bear dates. This piece was struck during the 1862-1864 coin shortage, when merchants needed emergency small change. Each unique combination of obverse and reverse dies constitutes a separate Fuld catalog number, even when struck in the same metal. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The Fuld catalog documents thousands of distinct die combinations for Civil War store cards, making this one of the most complex series in American numismatics.

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

Cross References

Fuld 600A-1A