Expert: Ronald Fern - 2/10/2011

Question
hi, i just came across a 1863 token in my pennies its a dr. e. hause from tecumsch michigan can you give me  an ideal how much its worth

Answer
Hi Cheryl:

Thanks for your question.

You have what is called a Civil War Store Card Token. They were struck by private mints to help the coin shortage merchant's were facing due to hoarding. During the war, people started to hold gold and silver coinage and then copper coins were taken out of circulation.

There are two types of civil war tokens, merchant, often with the name, address of the business and a design of what the person sold or dealt with, and patriotic, often with a war related theme. Most were made of copper, and exchanged for one cent in merchandise or value. They came in two sizes, large cent and small cent. Many had "Not One Cent" on one side and the design was very similar to the Indian cents struck during that time.

Millions of tokens were struck, and there are over 10,000 different varieties and die combinations of these made during our civil war (1863-4). The tokens are ranked in rarity for common, R-1 (over 5,000 remaining) to R-10 (unique, 1 known). Rarity and condition, along with metal type are the determining factors as to the value of your token. Common circulated R-1 and R-2 tokens trade regularly in the $15-$20 range, with Uncirculated examples bringing up to $60-$75.

I found a listing of your token or one close to it. It is listed as a MI 920 B-4a, struck in Copper, with a R-9 rarity, and sold for $150. This person was a Dentist. See: http://www.shigitatsu.com/CWT/michigan_civil_war_store_cards.htm

There is a specialized group who collect and deal specifically with this type of token. The link:
http://cwtsociety.com/

Another link listing tokens and there prices: http://mysite.verizon.net/resqje2x/classicnumismatics2/id14.html

You may want to check eBay listings in the exonumia category under coins and currency from time to time to see if a token like yours is listed and what it is going for.

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Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.