Excerpts are from U. S. Civil War Store Cards, Third Edition by George and Melvin Fuld, Edited by John Ostendorf.

     “In the spring of 1862 citizens hoarded silver coins in quantity. By early summer the only federal coins in circulation were copper-nickel cents. Otherwise, business was conducted in Legal Tender Notes as well as paper bills still being issued by state-chartered banks.”

     “Maters went from bad to worse. In the second week of July all copper-nickel cents disappeared. No coins were available to buy a newspaper, take a coach ride, or sip a soda, the first such time in American history. On July 17 the Treasury Department declared that ordinary postage stamps could serve as money. Many merchants and others put quantities of stamps on printed envelopes marked with such values as 25 or 50 cents. Postage Currency notes were printed by the American Ban Note Co. in denominations of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents, with perforated edges to permit them to be torn easily from sheets. The designs were copied from postage stamps.”

     “John Gault patented the encased postage stamp – a mica-fronted small brass case with a stamp visible on the front and an embossed advertisement on the reverse.”

“Banks, merchants, towns, and other entities issued a flood of paper scrip notes of various denominations from 1 cent upward.”

     “Cent-sized tokens… which had been issued in small numbers in 1861, were produced in increased numbers in 1862 and in a virtual flood in 1863.”

     With few exceptions, CWTs were issued in the northeast and mid-west states. Southern states, due to shortages of metals mostly relied on small denomination scrip for everyday transactions.

     CWTs were purchased by merchants for between $6 and $9 per thousand, so when they were given out in change with a value of one cent, the merchant made a bit more of a profit.

     Numismatists of the era actively collected Civil War tokens. They visited the various token makers and could purchase tokens with rare die pairings, mules, and off metals to add to their cabinets and give to fellow collectors. These are called "numismatic strikes" and are typically found in high grades as they were not intended to circulate.

     In the four years of the Civil War, from April 1861 to April 1865, about 12 thousand varieties of CWTs were produced giving collectors many ways to specialize.

     “The Act of April 3, 1864…prohibited the distribution of privately manufactured tokens... After the legislation, the solution for token makers was simple: keep using old dies and make new dies dated 1863!”

     “By early 1865 the monetary crisis for pocket change was completely over, bronze Indian cents were common in circulation as were older copper-nickel-cents… and a new denomination, the two-cent piece was made in quantity.”

     The quality of die cutting, and token manufacture varied widely. Some are extremely well executed and struck, while others have crude die work, misspellings, re-punched lettering, or were struck using damaged dies. Civil War tokens offer a lot to the error collector.

     To give the tokens some legitimacy without running afoul of the law, many dies were made with Indian and Liberty head images similar to but not exactly like Federal coins. Some dies have "One Cent" with a tiny "Not" above. Since most of the tokens were used in Union States, the dies usually have patriotic, pro-Union themes. There are a few pro-South and some with pacifist themes.