Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 6/7/2009

Question
i have a coin from j.j.squier dry goods cambridge,o 1863.13stars,soldier with helmet,almost looks like a trogen soldier.any value

Answer
Harris, you have what's known as a civil war merchant token.  During the Civil War, people started hording coins and so there weren't any available to give out change.  The merchants took the bull by the horn and made some "tokens" themselves to give out as change (and take back in for more purchases).  They are very collectible and there is even a group, the "Civil War Token Society" dedicated to their collection.  The Fulds wrote the catalog on "Civil War Store Cards," and the piece you describe is catalogued as Ohio 115B-1a through 11a (there are different varieties). Bryon Kanzinger wrote a book on values from year 2002 for civil war tokens and depending on what variety you have and what condition it is in value was from 18 to 150 dollars.  Do not try to improve condition by cleaning or anything else, you will surely reduce value, probably substantially.  Go to www.ebay.com and do a search for "Civil War Token" and you'll see a lot come up, try adding Squier and see if any of the pieces similar to what you have come up.  Hope this helped, Jim Lawniczak