(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-60A-2a, PA

Coin Details

Description

Fuld 60A-2a — store card of James Maines, Bakerstown, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. With 2 known varieties, James Maines produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 60A-2a) is common. This undated piece entered commerce during the 1862-1864 period when millions of private tokens replaced vanished federal coinage. Each unique combination of obverse and reverse dies constitutes a separate Fuld catalog number, even when struck in the same metal. The Civil War small change crisis generated the largest private coinage movement in American history, with merchants and die sinkers producing tokens for circulation. Many Civil War tokens survive in high grades because merchants and the public saved them as novelties, resulting in a better average preservation than contemporary federal coins.

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 2 cataloged varieties, James Maines was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 60A-2a