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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Parthicus, post: 7161658, member: 81887&quot;]The scratch on the back of my left hand was starting to hurt.&nbsp; Hope it doesn&#039;t get infected, I thought to myself, followed by, Why didn&#039;t I bring along any Neosporin?&nbsp; Because I had no time to make a good plan and equip myself, I answered myself bitterly.&nbsp; If that damn Johnson hadn&#039;t been chasing me... well, no point in what-ifs now.&nbsp; I&#039;m here in 1865 Philadelphia, might as well see if I can at least get something interesting to take back.</p><p><br /></p><p>The thought of infection crept back into my head.&nbsp; There&#039;s no COVID here, but plenty of other diseases are around, and now that I think about it, I&#039;m not sure that germ theory is yet accepted by medical professionals.&nbsp; Just as well that I will only be here for a short time.&nbsp; As soon as I get back, I&#039;m going to take a full course of vancomycin treatment.&nbsp; And self-isolate for a couple of weeks, too; don&#039;t want to bring some long-extinct virus back to the modern world with me...</p><p><br /></p><p>Fortunately the streets of downtown Philadelphia are laid out in an orderly grid, and I can still remember a lot of the layout from my time in the city 150 years in the future.&nbsp; (Remember the future?&nbsp; Verb tenses get weird with time travel.)&nbsp; I remember there was a Philadelphia coin dealer named John W. Haseltine around this time, but several passers-by I ask have not heard of him.&nbsp; Maybe I&#039;m a few years too early for his coin business.</p><p><br /></p><p>I walk into a small apothecary shop that is vacant of other customers.&nbsp; The proprietor has also never heard of Haseltine, but once he understands I am a coin collector he is quite willing to let me &quot;make change&quot; with the contents of his till.&nbsp; Maybe there&#039;s something in there to justify this whole misadventure.</p><p><br /></p><p>After about ten minutes, I was almost convinced that the exercise was futile.&nbsp; I was hoping an 1856 Flying Eagle cent might be included, but no such luck.&nbsp; The only foreign coin was a Mexican one real, dated 17-something but so worn and battered that it would gain almost no value by 2021.&nbsp; Then I remember that Civil War tokens might be in use still, and ask if he has any, perhaps kept separate from the main change?&nbsp; He does, and I spend a few minutes looking through the group.&nbsp; Nothing immediately jumps out at me, but they&#039;re all in excellent condition.&nbsp; I pick out a few pieces advertising Philadelphia businesses and a very nice Lincoln campaign piece.&nbsp; The apothecary, seeing the token, makes a few remarks on the late President, and I offer my sympathies.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then I spot, left in one corner of the till, a strange object that brings up some half-remembered bits of numismatic lore.&nbsp; I ask him to show it to me, and he brings out a metal container, about the size and shape of a quarter, but with the front replaced by a thin piece of glass, with a 3 cent postage stamp stored inside.&nbsp; Encased postage stamps, I remember, were one of the less successful replacements for scarce circulating coins during the War, due to their fragility, and are much coveted by modern collectors.&nbsp; Trying to hide my excitement, I casually ask if that can be included in my change.&nbsp; Sensing a rube, the shopkeeper readily consents to unloading these useless tokens in exchange for my good silver dime.&nbsp; As I head out and start walking back to where I have hidden the Time Machine, I think&nbsp; to myself, this was a pretty good day after all...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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