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(1861-65) Brass Civil War Store Card F-630BE-12b, G. Parsons

Strike Type

Coin Details

Year

1861

Denomination

Store Cards

Strike Type

Regular Strike

Series

Civil War Store Cards

Designer

Various private die sinkers including John Stanton, William Bridgens, and others

Composition

bronze

Weight

4.5g

Diameter

19mm

Edge

Plain

Description

Civil War token cataloged as Fuld 630BE-12b, featuring the issuer G. Parsons. No merchant name or location appears on this die combination. The Fuld catalog assigns such tokens to the Location Unknown section, recognizing them as patriotic issues rather than merchant-sponsored currency. Struck in brass, a copper-zinc alloy that gave the token a golden appearance while maintaining similar size and weight to copper pieces. Bearing the date range 1861-65, covering the years of the wartime coin shortage. New York City produced over half of all Civil War tokens, with additional output from Waterbury, Connecticut (center of the brass industry) and Cincinnati, Ohio. Die sinkers produced these tokens on hand-operated screw presses capable of striking several hundred pieces per hour. The largest manufacturers maintained multiple presses to meet wartime demand.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 1 cataloged varieties, G. Parsons was a limited producer of Civil War tokens.