Civil War Token, 1863
date: label: date made
content: 1863
notes: label: Description
content: In the beginning of 1862, citizens went on a hoarding frenzy as high inflation plagued the market after the outbreak of the Civil War. Their target: coins of gold, silver, and copper. The hoarding problem was so extreme that the government halted the minting of coined money and by the end of 1862 there were hardly any metallic coins in circulation. This was acutely felt by business men and customers alike since coinage in small denominations was most commonly tendered at that point in time. In order to alleviate the situation, merchants and tradesmen sought alternatives to government issued small change. Privately issued tokens, typically one cent and made of copper and similar in size to government issued coinage, were used instead and by late 1862 these Civil War Tokens were circulating in Cincinnati and New York. This particular token’s text, “FOR PUBLIC ACCOMODATION,” reflects the pecuniary problem that was happening at that time.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: National Numismatic Collection
label: See more items in
content: Civil War
label: See more items in
content: Coins, Currency and Medals
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: NU.72.118.76
label: accession number
content: 302411
label: catalog number
content: 72.118.76
objectType: label: Object Name
content: token
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 19.8 mm; 25/32 in; wt. 3.685 g