(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-765P-4a, PA

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of Pittock's, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was the Union's industrial heartland, with Philadelphia as a manufacturing center and Pittsburgh as an iron and steel producer. Pittock's produced 27 cataloged die varieties, reflecting a substantial token operation. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 765P-4a) is common. Like the majority of Civil War store cards, this token is undated, produced during the acute 1862-1864 small change crisis. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. Token production peaked in 1863 when the coin shortage was most acute, with die sinkers working around the clock to fill merchant orders.

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 27 cataloged varieties, Pittock's was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 765P-4a