Newman Portal Search of the Week

This week an NNP user searched for “Fisler.” The writer speculated this referred to an American token, and for once made a correct guess. The token has only a few auction appearances, the most recent being Stack’s sale of the Alan Bleviss collection of Civil War tokens (part IV) in March, 2010, where it realized $920. Another example is found in the Presidential Coin and Antique sale #84 (McSorley), July, 1998. These tokens were issued by Fisler & Chance, druggists in Urbana, OH.  Dave Bowers, writing in the Bleviss catalog, notes: "The location of Fisler & Chance was finally determined in April 2003 by Mark Gatcha. The firm was in Urbana, Ohio, and consisted of Dr. Israel Fishier and Dr. Samuel Chance, 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…..” The earliest mention of Fisler & Chance found on the Newman Portal is from October 1898, in Storer’s listing of medals, jetons, and tokens related to medical science, which appeared in the American Journal of Numismatics, vol. 33, no. 2.Link to Stack’s Bleviss catalog (March 2010): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=517023&page=32Link to Presidential Coin & Antique catalog of the McSorley collection (July 1998): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=511514&AuctionId=511916&page=83Link to American Journal of Numismatics, vol. 33 (October 1898): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/511737?page=78