(No Date) Copper Civil War Store Card F-630BF-1ao, Ches Pfaff, F/O D/S NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$288 AU55BN 10-14-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

Merchant token from Ches Pfaff, F/O D/S of New York, cataloged as Fuld 630BF-1ao. 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. This piece is an overstrike struck over a host coin, an 1863 Indian Head cent. Traces of the original design may be visible beneath the new impressions. The absence of a date is typical for Civil War tokens produced during the 1862-1864 emergency currency period. The token trade was competitive, with die sinkers in New York, Cincinnati, and other cities vying for merchant orders across the region. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The cent-sized format was chosen deliberately to match the federal Indian Head cent, the coin most conspicuously absent from daily commerce.

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. Overstrike varieties are generally scarcer than tokens struck on blank planchets, as they required sourcing and re-striking existing coins. With 2 cataloged varieties, Ches Pfaff, F/O D/S was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 630BF-1ao