(No Date) Copper Civil War Store Card F-660A-1a, J.M. Page & Co. MI

Coin Details

Auction Record

$432 AU58BN 11-18-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

This Civil War token was issued by J.M. Page & Co., operating in Morenci, Michigan. Michigan's merchants across numerous cities actively produced tokens to combat the small change shortage affecting Northern commerce. With 2 known varieties, J.M. Page & Co. produced a modest number of token types. Struck in copper, this die combination (Fuld 660A-1a) is common. This undated token was struck circa 1862-1864 during the wartime coin shortage. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Congress banned private token issuance in April 1864, but before that, tokens like this one circulated freely as cent substitutes in Northern commerce. 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, J.M. Page & Co. was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 660A-1a