(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-630M-13G, NY

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card from New York, cataloged as Fuld 630M-13G. New York was the nation's commercial capital, with New York City alone producing hundreds of store card varieties from Broadway retailers to waterfront wholesalers. The gold composition of this variety (Fuld 630M-13G) is extremely rare for this merchant. Undated Civil War tokens like this one circulated alongside dated issues during the 1862-1864 period. Professional die sinkers like John Stanton, Benjamin True, and William Bridgens supplied dies to merchants across the Northern states. Federal coinage vanished from circulation after 1861 as citizens hoarded silver and copper for their metal value, leaving merchants to fill the void with tokens. Gold pieces were struck as special presentation items and are almost never encountered. 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

Gold strikings of Civil War tokens are among the rarest of all metal variants, produced in tiny quantities for presentation purposes or the collector market. With 40 cataloged varieties, this merchant was a substantial producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 630M-13G