What are Civil War Tokens?

Another interesting fact about the civil war is coinage and the scarcity of it. In the absence of it privately minted coins were made with all sorts of different designs and they were split into 3 different categories. I have already purchased one and I'm trying to acquire a second one, they go good with what I have collected so far. They are very interesting conversation pieces.

Patriotic tokens

Patriotic Civil War tokens typically displayed a patriotic slogan or image on one or both sides. Since the majority of these tokens were minted in Union states, the slogans and images were decidedly pro-Union. Some common examples of slogans found on patriotic tokens are "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved," "Union For Ever," and "Old Glory". Some of the images found on patriotic tokens were the flag of the United States, a 19th-century cannon, and the USS Monitor.
Among the best-known varieties of patriotic tokens are the so-called "Dix tokens." They are named for John Adams Dix, who served as Secretary of the Treasury in 1861. In a letter from Dix to a revenue cutter captain, Lieutenant Caldwell, he orders Caldwell to relieve another cutter captain of his command for refusing an order to transfer from New Orleans to New York. The letter ends with the following sentence: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." The quote found its way to a number of patriotic tokens, albeit with a slightly modified wording ("haul down" is usually replaced by "tear it down").

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.

Sutler tokens

 

Sutler tokens are similar to store cards. Rather than listing the name of a private business, however, these tokens bore the name of a particular army unit (usually a regiment) and the name of the sutler who conducted transactions with the regiment. Of the three types of Civil War tokens, sutler tokens are by far the rarest.