(No Date) Silver Civil War Store Card F-630L-4fo, Broas Bros. NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$2,760 MS61 06-20-2021 Heritage Auctions

Description

Fuld 630L-4fo — store card of Broas Bros., New York. Broas Brothers Pie Bakers at 131 41st Street in New York City issued tokens under this name alongside the related "Broas Pie Baker" series. Together the Broas family produced nearly 30 die varieties, one of the most extensive series from any single New York merchant. 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 on this token is standard for the 1862-1864 era, when speed of production mattered more than formality. Token production was a specialized trade — die sinkers maintained catalogs of stock dies that merchants could pair with custom obverses. Store cards circulated as emergency currency after wartime hoarding removed federal coins from commercial channels. The silver composition indicates a piece produced outside the normal commercial run, as a numismatic item.

Rarity Notes

Silver strikings are considerably scarcer than base metal versions, typically produced in small quantities for collectors or as special presentation pieces. Overstrike varieties are generally scarcer than tokens struck on blank planchets, as they required sourcing and re-striking existing coins. With 42 cataloged varieties, Broas Bros. was a substantial producer of Civil War tokens.

Cross References

Fuld 630L-4fo