LOT   /  Moncton November Sale 2016  / 

408

Ephemra - Quackery NEW YORK

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:25.00 CAD Estimated At:50.00 - 70.00 CAD
Ephemra - Quackery NEW YORK
SOLD
25.00CAD+ buyer's premium (5.00)
This item SOLD at 2016 Nov 26 @ 19:20UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out following the Coin Cabinet Collector Show.
Ephemra - Quackery NEW YORK - Perry Davis Pain Killer Davis & Lawrence American Bank Note Company Medical Quackery
2 pieces (Bent corner) Specimen
Size: 1.4/8" x 2.2/8"

Perry Davis was born in Dartmouth, Massachusetts in 1791. The family moved from Dartmouth to Westport, Mass. in 1795. He was crippled at the young age of 14 when he fell through a raft he was working on. He suffered for many years with severe pain and experimented with various drugs to find a cure, mostly ethanol and opiates until he finally came up with a drug that gave him relief. For many years, Davis barely eked out a living for his family, moving from city to city. Arriving in Pawtucket in 1828, he became an inventor, having designed an improved grain grinding mill. His invention failed, owing to hard economic times. By that time, he was in debt to the tune of $4500, and his assets were three cents and the recipe for the elixir. To become a medicine manufacturer he needed money to purchase components, bottles, labels, etc. He was able to raise $24.50 by selling his horse, wagon, and harness.
With this fund he assembled a batch of medicine to try the Boston market. Mr. Davis carried his medicine in a basket on his arm, walking there and back. He called on the druggists, but they shrugged their shoulders and said they could not sell it without the assistance of advertising and that they made mixtures equally as good themselves. After canvassing the city with little success, and at last discouraged, he went among the crowd upon the street and to each poor, sick, lame person he met handed a bottle of Pain Killer. This done he returned home more discouraged than ever.
In the latter part of the summer of 1843 he carried a batch of medicine to sell at the Pawtucket fair. Established by the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry in 1820, the fair was highly popular, drawing crowds from all over New England.
It was here that Perry Davis set up his stand at the entrance to the fair grounds. That day proved to be the turning point. Some people believed what he told them about the merits of his medicine and one person with a pain in his stomach was bold enough to try it. The patient declared he had instant relief.
Orders now began to come in to such an extent that Mr. Davis had to cast aside his pestle and mortar and commence the manufacture of Pain Killer upon a larger scale. It was now found that each bottle given away in Boston and elsewhere, had created a demand for many more; the sale increased from day to day, while everybody who used this wonderful compound was either writing or telling his friends of its powers in relieving pain and suffering. By 1844 he purchased a building on Pond Street in Providence making his medicine on a factory scale. In 1850 Perry's son Edmund joined him in the business and the company became Davis & Son, located at 43 Pond Street, Providence.
An outbreak of cholera occurred in Asia. Soon cases of Davis' medicine were shipped with every Baptist missionary bound for India and China.
His medicine at home grew more popular every day and soon afterward cholera made its appearance in the United States and Pain Killer was suddenly brought into general notice by the astonishing cures of this dreadful disease which it effected.
Another occurrence which helped make the Davis fortune was the Civil War. During the rebellion the factory was seized by the United States Government in 1861 to make medicine not only for the soldiers but for the army's horses. The medicine was considered "good for man or beast."
By the time Perry Davis died in 1862, his fame was worldwide. The wrapper of every bottle of his medicine carried a woodcut image of the maker. He was only a visitor in Pawtucket, and the visit was brief, but he had been adopted by the village as one of her most notable sons.
When Perry passed away at Providence, R. I. May 9, 1862, Edmund continued the company his father had started.
In 1867, Edmund moved the company to 78 High Street and in 1871 took in Mrs. Sarah D. Dennis as a partner. They relocated the company to 136 High Street.
When Edmund died in 1880, his son, Edmund W. Davis took over the company. One year later he took in another partner, Horace S. Bloodgood. Mrs. Dennis also died that year and the company moved to 594 Westminister Street after her death. The company was still called Davis & Son throughout this entire period.
A few years later, Bloodgood retired, leaving the internationally known company with offices at 380 St. Paul Street, Montreal, Canada, and 17 Southhampton Row, Holborn, London, England.
Perry Davis & Son left Providence in 1895 and moved its operation to New York City. Edmund remained in Rhode Island, living in Narragansett.






Lawrence, William Van Duzer, manufacturer of New York City, was born near Elmira, N.Y., Feb. 12, 1842; son of Robert D. Lawrence and Catherine (Van Duzer) Lawrence. He was educated in Michigan. He removed to New York City when nineteen years old and was employed for five years by S. R. Van Duzer Company, wholesale druggists. In 1866 he went to Canada to establish a branch house, representing a number of American agencies, including that of Perry, Davis & Son of Providence, R.I. In 1882 the business was incorporated under the name of the Davis & Lawrence Co. This company, in 1895, bought out the business of Perry, Davis & Son, of Providence, R.I., and all its proprietary interests, and later the Davis & Lawrence Co. of New York was organized in New York City and since 1900 the head office of the business has been located at 10 and 12 Christopher street in that city, Mr. Lawrence being president of both companies; also of the Fellows Manufacturing Company of New York City and Montreal. He is the founder of Lawrence Park, of the Hotel Gramatan and the Lawrence Hospital, all in the village of Bronxville, which is situated in Westchester County right on the edge of New York City; and is a member of the Union League Club of New York City and St. James' Club of Montreal, Canada.
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