We saw some neat items at the pizza party! Sadly, they were a challenge to photograph because of the lighting, it had nothing to do with my lack of skill!

     The majority were brought in by our good friend Scott Hendrichsen, who offered to make me a list of them, but I dropped the ball and didn’t follow through with him in time.
     But, here are a few that I was able to decode, and Scott did call me with some help.
   
     One was a hand-finished, tooled-top light aqua  J.W. Patterson Druggist, Tecumseh, Mich.
    A quick Internet search brings up a C.S. Patterson, 1863 Druggist, Civil War Token, likely the father of J.W. Patterson, but I was able to learn little else about the business.
    Some of you may not know, so you others who have heard me before, please be patient.
            During the Civil War entrepreneurs saw a need to supplement a shortage of coins with tokens, this was to relieve a massive coin shortage in both the north and south.
    For many years I thought the shortage of coins in the early 1860's was similar to the shortage of metals needed during WWII, in that the metal was used for the war effort. . not really.
     Well, there could have been some truth to that, but primarily the problem was due to hoarding!
    The most sought after examples of these war time tokens are the “Civil War Store Cards.”
     I understand sales people would travel from town-to-town calling on merchants with the opportunity of a lifetime!



    I can almost see them stepping down from the stage- coach with satchel in hand in front of the town hotel.

    Business owners could purchase advertisements for their business and ‘support the cause’ at the same time! They were called on to purchase quantities of these advertising tokens . . . which would be spread far and wide.

    You can bet, part of the sales pitch suggested the merchants would be seen as a “True Patriots” for supporting the war effort.
    Being hard-core business men, the salesmen also pushed their goods to the non-profit groups by offering them the chance to also help by sponsoring the more generic Patriotic War Tokens.
    Patriotic 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 war ship iron-clad USS Monitor.
    The fact is, they minted million of them! They have been considered a major collectable since day one!

    I have sold several different Civil War Token books over the years, and in my opinion they are somewhat poorly organized. Usually, when they send the manuscripts in for  printing, more unknown examples pop up. The two volumes I have on hand have at least 1000 pages each!

    I read somewhere the collecting society estimated the Store Card variants numbered nearly 9000 and the Patriotic around 3000. How many thousands of each variation was minted is anyone’s guess.
    Actually, there is a third type of Store Cards, which are usually advertising recreation such as pool halls, or products without a clear merchant sponsor, these are called Mavericks.  
    We find these Civil War Tokens more often than you would think when we are out metal detecting. I have found both of the examples pictured.

After April, 1864, congress passed a law against minting and using them for legal tender. The fine was $2,000 and or 5 years in prison!
    But, the government made no attempt at rounding them up or stopping collecting.     
      At that point, many became toy money for the kids to play with and frequently became lost.
      True Story, I had 3 Civil War Soldier ancestors, and one Revolutionary War ancestor. When I learned about that, I asked my grandmother why she didn’t tell me. She said, “I didn’t know you cared.”

       During the late 50's, or early 60's, someone gave my dad a box- full of real Confederate paper money . . .  for us kids to play with . . . we did!

    Another of Scott's bottles was a beautiful, small prescription bottle embossed
 F.P. Martin Druggist, Columbus, Ohio. What is especially nice about this bottle is that it is a “Monogram Bottle.”
    I had found a few monogram bottles, which I added to my display. That was when I learned there are a small group of collectors who love them!
F.P. Martin druggist was located in Columbus Ohio, but I I found nothing on them, which makes me think this may be very scarce!
    Another little pharmacy bottle, this time from the city of my birth, Allegan, was W.J.GARROD Druggist, Allegan, Mich.
This one has the neat embossed image of a mortar and pestle with W.J.G. in a monogram on the mortar.
    I did find the headstone for W.J. Garrod who is buried in Allegan. He was born in England on March 7th 1860, and he passed away in Holland MI on October 21st 1919. I am sure he very likely knew some from my tribe!
   
         A Mortar and Pestle, is a set of two simple tools used since the days of Adam & Eve,  to prepare substances by crushing and grinding them to fine powder.
    I actually sell some iron mortar and pestles as part of my prospecting supplies. When the prospector gets a metal detector response from quartz, they use these tools to crush the rock and hopefully extract gold!  
    Another neat bottle, one we have talked about before, is the
 Dr. Thomas Eclectric Oil.
     Yes, spell check is having a fit with that spelling! Especially if connected to anyone named Thomas!
    Dr. Thomas’ Eclectric Oil it was said, “was used all around the world!”

 Originally intended to treat colds, the product was expanded as a universal cure for muscular pains, rheumatism, neuralgia, joint aches, and sprains.
Deafness?

    Scott also displayed a Ungall’s Pharmacy, Poplar Street, Macon, GA.
    I tried to research this one without any luck whatsoever. I did find listings for some Macon Drug Stores, which, listed in early 1900's advertising, they all boasted “Open All Night!”
  

 Kevin Siegfried brought in a beautiful tiny bottle with full paper label. 
   
    “Yes-sir-re-bob! Step right up!"
    Dr Ray Vaughn Pierce was a quack whose laboratory in  Buffalo, NY, produced millions of dollars worth of patent remedies.
As well as the Pleasant Pellets. There were Dr Pierce’s Anuric Tablets, Dr Pierce’s Favorite Prescription, Dr Pierce’s Vaginal Tablets, Dr Pierce’s Extract of Smart-Weed and Dr Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery – a licorice-flavored tonic that reportedly contained quinine, opium and alcohol and was advertised as giving men
    I am in love with this stuff!
I personally owe much to the Vaginal tablets, and that wonderful Smart Weed! Where would I be today without these amazing products? Why, I’d be trapped in a withered-up body out digging bottles from early sewers!

    Dr. Pierce was a full blown hustler! He even had paid farmers to advertise his products by painting their barns!
    Kevin also has a crystal witching ball (which was actually a pontiled soft-ball size fishing net float). It is a beauty, I love these!
    But the real beauty Kevin has is a bright boulder cat’s eye with sulfide! This marble is beautiful color and condition! I know far too little about marbles, but I did know the net-like pattern woven through the center is sulfide.

    The problem with antique marbles, is one we can also run into with early bottles . . . there are so many fakes are out there!
    I know a bottle collector in Otsego, who makes “Art Marbles” as a hobby . . . pontiled  reproductions! Good ones!
     I think Kevin’s is the real deal . .  But what do I know?  I have been out digging and turned up marbles. When that happens you know they are real!
    I used to keep a small pie tin next to  my cash register with recent detecting finds that I couldn’t identify. One item was a small, round brass frame with a mounting foot, complete with holes for screws.
    The upper section was a round frame with a disc like gong suspended from the top.
     One day my Stepfather picked it up and said,
“Well I’ll be, where did you get this?”
“What is it?” I asked
    He said, “It is a parking brake for a buggy!”
Ironically I found it near a really cool iron buggy step!

    Hod told me the leather reign was threaded through the little gong disk area. When the buggy was parked the reigns could be held with mild pressure to keep the horse in place.
    So, where I was going with this?  In that little pie-tin I had tossed a marble, one that I found near that same location. A guy who visited my store called me when he got back  home.
    He said, “When I left your store, I realized that green and maroon marble that you have in that pie tin should be put in a safe place. That is an Ox Blood and worth a couple hundred dollars!”