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CIVIL WAR PATRIOTIC TOKENS, SUTLER TOKENS (EXONUMIA) AND STORE CARDS:
Regular issue US coinage was hoarded during the Civil War
restricting merchants ability to make small change. Some merchants had tokens made to
give out as change in their stores. If you ordered the least expensive tokens you would
receive a combination of two existing dies, usually of a patriotic nature or similar to a US
cent, these are called Civil War Patriotic Tokens. Civil War Sutler Tokens
were a special kind of Store Card that was issued by sutlers who supplied the Union Army. If
you had more to spend you could have one or two dies custom made for you with information
specific to your business (i.e. location, occupation, specialties, etc.) these are Civil
War Store Cards.
RARITY RATINGS:
The rarity scale for Civil War tokens is listed below. Most
collectors collect by town, merchant or die. Very few try to get one of each die combination
and metal composition. So value is determined more by supply and demand than by
individual rarity. Additionally, more than a few pieces have incorrect rarity ratings
(both over and under rated) in current references due to outdated information, hoards,
mistakes or typo's.
| R1 Very
Common more than 5,000 estimated |
R6 Very
Scarce 20 to 74 estimated to exist |
| R2 Common
2,000 to 4,999 estimated to exist |
R7 Rare 10
to 19 estimated to exist |
| R3 500 to
1,999 estimated to exist |
R8 Very Rare
5 to 9 estimated to exist |
| R4 200 to
499 estimated to exist |
R9 Extremely
Rare 2 to 4 estimated to exist |
| R5 Scarce 75
to 199 estimated to exist |
R10 Unique only one
estimated to exist |
COMPOSITION OF CIVIL WAR TOKENS:
Civil War tokens were manufactured in a number of different metallic
compositions as well as rubber. In the cataloging of these tokens the composition is
indicated by a lower case letter at the end of the
Fuld number. The following is a
list of the codes used.
|
a Copper |
g Lead |
|
b Brass |
h Hard Rubber |
|
c Nickel ( actually German Silver) |
i Zinc ( actually Tin Plated) |
|
d Copper-Nickel |
j German Silver |
|
e White Metal |
k Gilt |
|
f Silver |
m Tin (Usually plated brass) |
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