Civil War Token

I need help possibly identifying this token. I found it in a bag of old wheat pennies. The obverse say Chas. F. Raker - Dealer in dry goods and groceries - Vincennes Indiana. The reverse says 25 Cents.

 

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I'm not sure what it is it may be fake or it may be something like a coupon or food stamps. Also what does this have to do with the civil war?

 

It is my understand a lot of merchants had these made because coins were in short demand.

 

yes, they did and coins were in short supply.

But there is no indication that it is a CWT

 

there are a lot of coal mines down in that area, it could also be a token from one of those company stores

 

I believe I have found the same token, but the picture won't come up for me to be sure. The description certainly matches.

http://legacy.stacks.com/Lot/ItemDetail/66167

Are there any websites that deal solely in these tokens or experts that I can send pictures to be sure. Fuld R-9 is pretty rare.

 

Try searching for Civil War store card tokens.

 

What you have is a CWT Store Card. The Fuld book lists it as a IN930A-2b. Reverse is 1399. It was also produced with a 10 cent reverse number 1394. It is listed as an R-9 which means, between 2 and 4 known.

The Fuld catalog number consists of the state (IN), town number (930), variety (A=1st variety), metal b=Brass), design variety 2b (reverse 1399).

The Fuld catalog is: "U.S. Civil War Store Cards" by George and Melvin Fuld, Version 2 is the most current available.

Congrats, that is a desirable token.

 

Thanks PennyGuy. Should I try to clean the gunk off of it or leave it alone?

 

Do not clean your coin, especially one that rare!
I would leave it as-is to be honest. Congrats on an amazing find!!

 

Thanks. I was really surprised when I found it. It was in with a bag of crusty wheat pennies that also included a silver dime from 1952.

 

I agree that you should not try to clean that piece. It would be worth conservation at NCS however given that it is an R9 token.

 

Thanks again PennyGuy.

 

Rarity does not always equate to high value, as there are R9 cwts in Kanzinger's book that list as low as $60 in Unc, or $30 in F/VF. Furham's token however, is a quite desirable one, with only two (both R9) tokens listed for that town. Kanzinger's 2002 book values this token at $400 in F/VF.

 

I'd love to get a hold of some R9 CWT's for that price, any specific ones I should look out for? Or that I can search on ebay?

 

Sorry for the late reply non_cents, I just don't have the time to visit here as often as I would like. Things that tend to make a scarce token inexpensive are typically one of two things: either a town has many issuing merchants, or an issuing merchant has many varieties. Fuld's ref. indicates that the merchants of the city of Cincinnati issued 1973 cwt variations. That is not only more than any other city, but even more than the total issued from any given state (not including Ohio of course). New York City came in a distant second at 1076 variations. Inexpensive rarities will likely come from one of those two cities.

Oliver Boutwell, a miller in NYC, has 39 listed variations, with id NY890B-34b (R9) listing for $60 in Unc, & NY890B-9bo listing for $70 in Unc. Four of Boutwell's R8 (5-10 known) tokens list for $40 in Unc.

Lanphear in Cincinnati issued over 200 varieties of cwts, but his tokens are slightly higher, with most of his R9 tokens (and there are many of them) listing for $125 to $150 in Kanzinger's 2002 book.

Those were the two that came to mind quickest for inexpensive rarities, but you may find others if you search thru Kanzinger's book.