A Schoolcraft, Michigan Store Card & The Rattlesnake Token
By: Ron Gammill
From “The Gammill Coin Gazette”
(July 18, 2008)
Collecting Civil War tokens is an interesting pursuit just loaded with history of the Great War between the States. Regular issues of US coinage was hoarded during the Civil War and this dramatically restricted merchants ability to make small change. In response to this situation, many of the merchants had tokens made to give out as change in their stores.
If you ordered the least expensive tokens, you would receive a combination of two existing dies, usually of a Patriotic nature or similar to a US cent. We refer to these tokens as Patriotic Civil War Tokens. If on the other hand you had more to spend on tokens, you could have custom dies prepared with specific information relating to your business (i.e. location, occupation, specialties, etc.). These are referred to as Civil War Store Cards, also referred to as Tradesmen Tokens.
The example below is a Store Card from our Village of Schoolcraft. Interestingly, the manufacturers misspelled Mr. Pursel’s name on the first issue! “Prusel” was spelled incorrectly; however, “to make it right”, the manufacturer provided Pursel with a shipment of tokens with
the correct spelling, at no additional expense (so the story goes).
Fuld MI 900B-1a R.7.
Dry Goods-Groceries-Boots & Shoes.
Schoolcraft-Union 1863. Fuld MI900B-4a R7
Given the above information, it is not surprising that collectors in general classify Civil War tokens as either Patriotic or Store Cards. Now get ready: there were 25 million or more of these tokens issued! Approximately 7-8 thousand different varieties have been recorded! This area of numismatics represents an abundance of affordable small pieces of copper that represent a very important part of the fabric that makes this country what it is today. There are almost endless ways of assembling Civil War Tokens (CWT) by variety or topic for the collector. Want a
history lesson of the early 1860’s…this is a wonderful place to begin.
Notes on the “Copperhead” Tokens!
Patriotic tokens are anonymous, as mentioned above, struck from stock dies for general circulation. These tokens have patriotic themes – ARMY & NAVY, THE FLAG OF OUR UNION, LIBERTY AND NO SLAVERY, etc. – but some “Copperhead” tokens were issued with designs critical of the war, such as MILLIONS FOR CONTRACTORS/NOT ONE CENT FOR THE WIDOWS.
Store cards were made with their issuers generally carry an advertisement for their
business. Some of my favorites are the tokens bearing a mortar and pestle, relating
to medicinal agents of the time. However, other items like trunks, stoves, a stein
of beer, animals and many more were used. On the other hand, many show simply
a stock die such as an Indian head, eagle, or patriotic theme.
On the Reverse: “Beware”, shown above the snake with the date 1863 beneath. This die marriage is 136/397.
Now, with that brief background in hand, let’s take a look at another one of my favorite Civil War Tokens, the “Rattlesnake Token” illustrated above. This token is appealing for several reasons, but foremost is its symbolism. As far back as our colonial times ( i.e. at least 1750 or so) the rattlesnake was a favorite animal emblem of America, even before the Revolution. No one can misinterpret either the partial or full phrase, “LIBERTY OR DEATH: DONT TREAD ON ME”, found on the flags of 1775 along with either coiled, or full-length rattlers decorating the sacred hand-woven material of the flags.
The rattlesnake has been a favorite symbol of independence throughout America’s history. It was first adopted as a uniquely American ICON by early patriots, such as Benjamin Franklin. The rattlesnake represented American unity. Case in point: individually, its rattles have no sound, but united, they can be heard by all. And while it does not strike unless threatened, once provoked, the deadly rattlesnake will never surrender.
Opponents of the Civil War were also known as “Copperheads” and criticized Lincoln for refusing to compromise on the slavery issue. The firebrand design of the Gadsden Flag (see below) serves as a reminder of the birth of our nation and the spirit that carried it to freedom. The bright yellow banner bears an ominous coiled rattlesnake with the warning “Don’t Tread on Me.”
In reality, cent-size copper tokens were first issued before the Civil War. There are examples of issues as early as 1858 and 1861. These pre-Civil War tokens are usually collected together with the genuine article due to the difficulty of confidently separating them and the long existing collecting tradition. Some of the more recent catalogues do identify many of them as “non – contemporary” issues.