(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-765G-2a, PA

Coin Details

Description

Civil War store card issued by D.A. Hall & Co. of Pittsburgh, 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, D.A. Hall & Co. produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 765G-2a) is common for this merchant. Although undated, this token was produced during the 1862-1864 period when federal coins disappeared from commerce. Die sinkers offered merchants a choice of metals, with copper being cheapest and most common, while silver and gold were struck for collectors. Civil War tokens addressed a practical problem: the wartime disappearance of federal small change made daily transactions nearly impossible without private substitutes. 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 2 cataloged varieties, D.A. Hall & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 765G-2a