Since we have kind of been on a roll here with Civil War Tokens, Store Cards and Currencies, I thought I would show one of my pieces. I was happy to win this at auction!� It's a 1863 New York NY� F-630BH-2a. Christian Rauh Confection.� NGC Graded in MS 62 BN. � One of the casualties of the “War” was small change, there wasn’t any. Coins were being hoarded and merchants made their own tokens that passed for half-cents to 25 cents. Foundries made a nice profit minting tokens for desperate store owners. Stock or custom designs were offered to be given out in change in lieu of Federal or Confederate coins. No Confederate coinage was ever minted for circulation; people continued to use what Federal coinage was available to keep commerce going. Collectors call these “store cards”.� Civil War store cards differ from patriotic tokens in that one or both sides displays the name and or location of a privately owned business. Businesses that could afford it had two custom dies made, with both advertising the business. Otherwise, only one side displayed the business's information. This one I have here is for a Confectioner Store in New York. It shows a basket of flowers on the obverse.� The reverse (which I love) seem a bit odd to me for a Confectioner Store, as it portrays a "Chicken or Rooster" with the date of 1863 and a ring of 13 stars.� Maybe the business owner just liked chickens???������ Hope you enjoyed my blog. Comments are always welcome.