(No Date) Civil War Store Card F-910C-2A, MO

Coin Details

Description

Merchant token from Henry Jenkins of St. Louis, Missouri, cataloged as Fuld 910C-2A. 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. With 3 known varieties, Henry Jenkins produced a modest number of token types. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 910C-2A) is common for this merchant. 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. 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 3 cataloged varieties, Henry Jenkins was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 910C-2A