(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-910B-1A, MO

Coin Details

Auction Record

$384 XF45BN 12-16-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from Hallemand's of St. Louis, Missouri, cataloged as Fuld 910B-1A. St. Louis was the largest city west of the Mississippi and a vital Union stronghold, controlling river commerce and serving as a major military staging area. Hallemand's issued 7 die varieties, more than most Civil War merchants. This copper striking (Fuld 910B-1A) is common among the known varieties. 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. The token era ended when Congress authorized new federal small-denomination currency and criminalized private token production in 1864. 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 7 cataloged varieties, Hallemand's was a minor token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 910B-1A