(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-885A-1CP, NJ

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from B.W. Titus of New Jersey, cataloged as Fuld 885A-1CP. New Jersey was a vital industrial and transportation state, with Newark, Trenton, and Paterson as major manufacturing centers where merchants issued Civil War tokens. With 3 known varieties, B.W. Titus produced a modest number of token types. This undated piece entered commerce during the 1862-1864 period when millions of private tokens replaced vanished federal coinage. The dies for merchant tokens were usually cut by professional engravers who could produce a complete set in a matter of days. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. After Congress banned private coinage in 1864, surviving tokens became instant collectibles, with serious collecting beginning within a decade of the war's end.

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 3 cataloged varieties, B.W. Titus was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 885A-1CP