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Civil War tokens are token coins that were privately minted and distributed in the United States between 1861 and 1864. They were used mainly in the Northeast and Midwest. The widespread use of the tokens was a result of the scarcity of government-issued cents during the Civil War. Civil War tokens became illegal after the United States Congress passed a law on April 22, 1864 prohibiting the issue of any one or two-cent coins, tokens or devices for use as currency. On June 8, 1864 an additional law was passed that forbade all private coinage.〔Yeoman, R.S., ''A Guide Book of United States Coins'' (2004 edition), Whitman Publishing, 2003. ISBN 1-58238-199-2〕 Civil War tokens are divided into three types—store cards, patriotic tokens, and sutler tokens. All three types were utilized as currency, and are differentiated by their designs. The collectible value of the tokens is determined chiefly by their rarity. == History == By 1862, the second year of the Civil War, government-issued coinage began vanishing from circulation. American citizens hoarded all coins with gold and silver, and eventually began hoarding copper-nickel cents as well. This made it extremely difficult for businesses to conduct transactions. In response, many merchants turned to private minters to fill the void left by the hoarded coins. The first of these privately minted tokens appeared in the autumn of 1862, by H. A. Ratterman, in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is estimated that by 1864, there were 25,000,000 Civil War tokens (nearly all redeemable for one cent) in circulation, consisting of approximately 7,000–8,000 varieties.〔George and Melvin Fuld, ''U.S. Civil War Store Cards'', Quarterman Publishing, Inc., 1975. ISBN 0-88000-135-6〕 One of the best-known and commonly struck types were store cards known as "Lindenmueller tokens," named for New York barkeep Gustavus Lindenmueller. In 1863, Lindenmueller had more than one million of his one-cent tokens struck and placed into circulation. One of the common uses for the token was for streetcar fare. The Third Avenue Railroad company of New York, which had willingly accepted a large quantity of the Lindenmueller tokens in lieu of actual currency, asked Lindenmueller to redeem them. He refused, and the railroad had no legal recourse. Incidents such as these eventually forced the government to intervene.〔Tebben, Gerald. ("An overview of Civil War Tokens" ), Columbus, O., Civil War Tokens. Retrieved June 26, 2006. 〕 On April 22, 1864, Congress enacted the Coinage Act of 1864. While the act is most remembered for the introduction of the phrase "In God We Trust" on the newly created two-cent piece, it also effectively ended the usage of Civil War tokens. In addition to authorizing the minting of the two-cent piece, the act changed the composition of the one-cent piece from a copper-nickel alloy (weighing 4.67 grams) to a lighter, less thick piece composed of 95% copper (weighing 3.11 grams).〔("Indian Head Cents" ). CoinFacts.com. Retrieved on June 23, 2006〕 The new one-cent piece was much closer in weight to the Civil War tokens, and found greater acceptance among the public.〔("Indian Head Bronze Cents 1864-1909" ). www.coinresource.com. Retrieved on June 23, 2006.〕 While the Coinage Act made Civil War tokens impractical, the issue of their legality was decided on June 8, 1864, when Congress enacted , which made the minting and usage of non-government issued coins punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, a prison term of up to five years, or both. (Chapter 25 of Title 18 deals specifically with counterfeit and forgery). It did not make it illegal to own Civil War tokens, however, and evidence exists that the tokens were viewed as collectibles as early as 1863, when the first known listings of Civil War tokens were published.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Civil War token」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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