(No Date) Copper Civil War Store Card F-225I-1a, Fr. Behr MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$2,760 AU58 09-20-2020 Heritage Auctions

Description

Civil War-era store card from Fr. Behr of Michigan. 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. This copper striking (Fuld 225I-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. 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 1 cataloged varieties, Fr. Behr was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 225I-1a