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Civil War tokens: the cents that are not cents
1860s private copper pieces when cents vanished. Patriotic tokens and store cards. Not US legal tender. Not Confederate notes. Common ones are type tokens. Rare merchants are collected.
Civil War tokens are private copper (and a few brass) pieces struck in the early 1860s when small change disappeared. Shops and towns issued them. Collectors split them into patriotic tokens and store cards (a merchant’s name).
They are not United States cents. They are not Confederate notes. They are not legal tender. Medal vs coin. So-called dollars are a different medal series.
What a shop does
A common patriotic token is a type token, not a rare coin. A scarce merchant card can be collected. We look at metal, holes, and whether someone polished it to look new. Don’t clean. Old is not rare.
If it says a store name in Ohio or New York, that is a store card. If it says “Army & Navy” or a flag, that is usually patriotic. Either way, it is not a 1909-S VDB.
Continue in the coin and money library. Related visitor guides: for shop visitors.