Description

OH, Urbana • OH-895-AA-1a (now OH-NC-F) • Fisler & Chance • R: 1047 (1864 Indian Head ‘Liberty’ stars) • Copper RE • High R-8 or R-9 • MS-62 BN NGC

A splendid rarity from the George J. Fuld Collection. A find for the Ohio specialist.  Notes: Dr. Israel Fisler and Dr. Samuel Chance operated the partnership at 15 North Main Street. Fisler was a quartermaster in the 52nd Ohio Infantry, companies F and S, from May 29, 1862, until he resigned on November 20, 1862. Afterward he was a partner with Dr. John H. Ayers (or Ayres) in Urbana.

Later, Chance bought out Ayers’ interest to form Fisler & Chance with Dr. Israel Fisler. Per information from John Ostendorf, the business opened in 1866.

As to whether these 1864-dated tokens were ordered during the Civil War is not known. In any event, Stanton added a few new customers for CWT in 1866, as the shop was still making tokens from old dies. Such tokens were very much in circulation, and shopkeepers could buy $10 worth for $7, earning a $3 profit for each group paid out—in a day when labor was valued at $1.50 to $2 per day. The serendipitous acquisition of one of these tokens at a flea market in Hartfield, NY, on Lake Chautauqua, formed the subject of an article, “A ‘Chance” Find,” by William Groom, in JCWTS, Spring 1985, pp. 4-6.

Tokens TN-430-A and OH-165-T are somewhat similar in style, with triangular arrangement of central words.