(No Date) Copper Civil War Store Card F-630BD-1a, New-York and Albany NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$900 MS62 04-13-2022 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War-era store card from New-York and Albany of New York. New York was the nation's commercial capital, with New York City alone producing hundreds of store card varieties from Broadway retailers to waterfront wholesalers. The copper composition of this variety (Fuld 630BD-1a) is common for this merchant. 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 2 cataloged varieties, New-York and Albany was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 630BD-1a