A Prescription ledger :
A PRESCRIPTION LEDGER:
The following is taken from an internet auctioners sales ad:
"This fantastic old ledger spans a six year period of time in history! I've taken several photos. Everyone's always interested in the cannabis indica prescriptions! Just flipping through a few pages I noticed a couple of cannabis indica prescriptions so I photographed.The above example illustrates one of the main problems faced by Antique Cannabis Collectors today. While it is possible to buy individual prescriptions from antique dealers, in most cases they are sold only in sets or one kind or another.
There is a wide diversity of medicines prescribed!!! I noticed one prescription written for HEROIN -- a narcotic!! The pharmacist wrote "DEAD" across the front of the prescription! (Rx 17900). Another HEROIN script, Rx 17259.
This auction is for an incredible drugstore prescription ledger! The ledger was manufactured by Winser & Dormitzer. A highly desirable feature is the "size" of this ledger. The ledger is approximately 10.5inch x 12inch x 2.5inch. The pages are 9.75inch x 11.5inch.
The reason this is such a desirable feature is because most old ledgers are larger and more cumbersome. Obviously, the pages are larger. The pages in this ledger are small enough that it would be easy to find a frame to fit. A dealer might consider buying this ledger, separating the binding and selling off individual pages! Shipping is even easier for the smaller pages! (ie. it's difficult to ship a 16 x 22inch page without bending!)
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Winser Patent Back Prescription Book
Number 0
Munfactured Only By
WINSER & DORMITZER
Druggists' Label Printers,
77 & 79 Beekman Street, New York
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Rx 17,167 thru Rx 19,100
September 13, 1919 thru July 27, 1925
W.I. DURGIN
THE DRUGGIST
WILTON, N.H.
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This is a genuine medical treasure! A dealer might consider reselling, or selling off individual pages! They are very classy when matted and framed. A collector can enjoy countless hours deciphering these incredible scripts!"
Some of this is due solely because of their (still) low price, which makes it all but impossible for a dealer (professional or amateur) to only sell one at a time. But the main reason seems to be simply the way they are found in old drug stores. Some druggist, for instance, literally glued their old prescriptions to ledgers [see example above] or other kinds of book, thus making it impossible to separate them. Still others used other [equally impossible to separate] forms of bunching them together.
Being philosophical, it can be pointed out that the back rooms of these older "mom & pop" drug stores have become a historians' heaven and a treasure trove for the antique hunter. In fact, so many cannabis prescriptions have been turning up that their prices has stayed put for quite some time.
TRIVIA QUESTION: It has been noticed that the prices go up for a month or two after a major (well published) Medical Marihuana arrest. Therefore would it be against the law for a narcotics police official to buy just before an arrest and sell immediately after? I mean they do have inside information.
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