(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-700A-4a, WI

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from J.I. Case & Co. of Racine, Wisconsin, cataloged as Fuld 700A-4a. Wisconsin was a growing frontier state with Milwaukee as its largest commercial center, and its merchants issued tokens as practical solutions to the coin shortage. With 4 known varieties, J.I. Case & Co. produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 700A-4a) is common for this merchant. Like the majority of Civil War store cards, this token is undated, produced during the acute 1862-1864 small change crisis. The token trade was competitive, with die sinkers in New York, Cincinnati, and other cities vying for merchant orders across the region. The Civil War small change crisis generated the largest private coinage movement in American history, with merchants and die sinkers producing tokens for circulation. Surviving specimens are tangible artifacts of the wartime monetary crisis that affected every commercial transaction in the Northern states.

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, J.I. Case & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 700A-4a