Star Of David; Civil War Token

Interesting? Star of David, American Civil War? Very nice. Lets see what the pro's know.

I guess that's true Biokemist6 on the date of Israel's inception. So I would assume some Jewish connection in the North Union during the Civil War. I know Jewish influences have been fairly prominent at times in European history through the 17th, 18th, and 19th Centuries, but not sure on the US connection.

I've found one other thread online on some obscure website with someone else who has a token just like it, but they only had speculations as to it's origin.

Anyone else have any ideas?

This is Fuld 189/399 an R-1 with the star being the reverse.
It's a very common Patriotic token that served as emergency money. This oldtimer has yet to see one of this variety in any grade below VF. IMHO, this well-executed design was probably saved in large numbers by those who encountered them.

Fuld attributes these dies to Emil Sigel who had a shop at 177 William Street in NY City. Citing the extensive list of dies that Sigel used, Fuld calls Sigel one of the most prolific makers of CW tokens.

There was a sizable population of German immigrants in NY City. Many of them were highly skilled in metal working trades. A few other NY City die sinkers of apparent German extraction were: Louis Roloff, George Glaubrecht, Louis Leichtweis. It's likely that a good number were Jews, too.

Many apparently German merchants in NY City issued store cards. One of the more popular Civil War era storecards from NY City is that of FELIX (Jewish letters for kosher) DINING SALOON, located at 256 Broadway. German beer gardens were in full bloom in those days, too.