(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-900B-2A, MI

Coin Details

Description

W. Prusel & Co, based in Schl.craft, Michigan, produced this token as a cent substitute during the wartime coin shortage. Michigan was a significant industrial state during the Civil War, with Detroit emerging as a major manufacturing center and merchants across the state producing tokens. With 4 known varieties, W. Prusel & Co produced a modest number of token types. This copper striking (Fuld 900B-2A) is common among the known varieties. The absence of a date is typical for Civil War tokens produced during the 1862-1864 emergency currency period. Merchants typically ordered tokens from die-sinkers who maintained inventories of patriotic and advertising dies for rapid production. 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 4 cataloged varieties, W. Prusel & Co was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 900B-2A