J.M & V. Koerner storecards may also have functioned as campaign tokens. John M. Koerner ran for and won a seat on the Franklin County Board of Commissioners in 1863.

Koerner served on the three-man county administrative body through 1867.

The Koerner dry goods store, just a block off High Street at the southeast corner of Broad and Front streets was adjacent to the city's hardscrabble wharf and black neighborhoods.

Wharves lined the Scioto River and blacks lived near the river north of Broad Street.

Nonetheless, the store carried a wide selection of goods, including Java, Rio and Mocha coffees and green and black tea.

Like most of the city's grocers, Koerner's offered free delivery within the city. The store's ads also noted, "Connected with our store, a first class saloon."

Of all the city's issuers of Civil War tokens, The Koerners' store has a singular distinction: a photograph exists of it.

John M. and Viet Koerner's grocery

Most mid-19th century Columbus street scene photos center on the bustling High Street district between Broad Street and the railroad station that stood where the Greater Columbus Convention Center now stands.

The photo of the Koerner store , taken in the 1880s, shows a large two story brick building where a Huntington National Bank building is now.

The Koerners were prolific issuers of Civil War tokens. An estimated 910 to 3,020 survive.

W.K. Lanphear used seven obverse dies to strike the storecards, with the most common being a small-date Turban-head piece.