25 04/09
10:58

Civil War Tokens

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BUY CIVIL WAR TOKENS AT www.FASTCOIN.com :

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more than a few pieces have incorrect rarity ratings (both over and under rated) in current references due to outdated information, hoards, mistakes or typo’s.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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