Pour Me a Glass!

Following his public school education in 1858, 15-year-old Edward Arthur Freeman obtained employment as a clerk at the McNary and Company drugstore in Hartford, Connecticut. He resigned in December 1861 and enlisted as a hospital steward in the 12th Regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. After serving his country until the end of the Civil War and escaping injury, he returned to McNary’s drugstore. In 1868, encouraged by his experience working for McNary, Freeman opened a drugstore at 99 Main Street with George M. Curtiss. This arrangement was dissolved in January 1871, with Curtiss becoming the sole owner.

In February 1871, Freeman leased a store building. He then placed several advertisements in the Hartford Courant newspaper to announce the April 11 grand opening of E.A. Freeman and Company’s Park Drug Store at 159 Asylum Street, at the corner of Ford Street. An impressive array of products appeared in the ads, including drugs and medicines, Havana cigars, and plants and flowers. Also included were wines and liquors “for medicinal use, which we receive directly from the custom house, and can guarantee their purity,” and “an elegant variety of fancy goods and toilet articles and everything usually found in a first class drug store.”

Freeman issued a trade token for his shop. Collectors refer to pieces such as these as a “maverick.” This means it is not self-identified as to its place of issue. In other words, the city and state do not appear in its inscription. Struck in nickel-plated brass with incuse lettering, the obverse of the 23.5mm trade token reads E.A. FREEMAN/PARK/DRUG STORE/COR. ASYLUM/& FORD ST. On the reverse, it advises the owner that it is GOOD FOR/1/GLASS/SODA/WATER.

Many maverick trade tokens are very difficult to attribute, and some are virtually impossible. This is not the case with Freeman’s token. Since its inscription includes his name and that of the store, plus a street address, it didn’t take long to pin it down. An unexpected bonus was the following announcement, which appeared in the July 22, 1871, issue of the Hartford Courant:

“Mr. E.A. Freeman, proprietor of the Park Drug Store, corner of Asylum and Ford streets, has the handsomest soda fountain, and draws as good soda water as can be found in the city. He has recently issued neat little silver checks, instead of tickets, which he sells at a discount—fourteen of them for a dollar, and good for a glass of soda or mineral water. They are about the size of a nickel five cent piece, and will be found handy and convenient to have in the pocket. Those who have not tried the soda from the Park Drug Store fountain, will do well to drop in and try a glass of this delicious beverage.”

It is extremely rare to find a company’s trade token mentioned in a newspaper article or business directory. Not only does this one describe the token, but it explains its exact purpose. First, I established that the piece circulated in Hartford. I then chose to determine how long Freeman was in business. This information reveals the latest date the token could have circulated. An ad in the October 11, 1871, Hartford Courant showed the venture did not last long. It announced that he had sold the Park Drug Store to George Saunders and Company. So, we know that Freeman issued the token in 1871 for no more than six months. 

That was the end of Freeman’s involvement in the drugstore business. Over the years, he worked in a variety of capacities, including a stint as paymaster of the Hartford, Providence and Fishkill Railroad. Eventually, he became president of the E.N. Welsh Clock Company plant at Forestville, and he remained involved with the business after Sessions Clock Company purchased the business in 1902.

In 1893 Freeman bought a home in Plainville, Connecticut, where he and his wife lived for the rest of their lives. He was the town’s assessor and also helped build the waterworks. When the Plainville branch of the Connecticut Building and Loan Association began in 1895, he served as president. Freeman suffered from health problems in his later years, and in 1916 an embolism forced the amputation of one of his legs. He died on August 30, 1919, at the age of 76.

A version of this article appeared in the June 2021 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).