Scripophily

[mmarotta]

Money evolved to meet the needs of trade and commerce, from bullion to coins to paper. Scripophily is the collecting of stocks, bonds, and other forms of promissory, speculative, and fiduciary paper. Stocks and bonds are the mainstream of this niche.

 

As with coins and banknotes, you might be drawn to the artistic beauty or the historical relevance. You might collect by time, place, vignette. signature or other theme. Railroads, automotive, and aviation are extremely popular.

 

Here are some links to resources to help you understand the scope of the hobby. These were published in my September 2008 "Internet Connections" column for the ANA Numismatist.

 

www.psta.com, the Professional Scripophily Traders Association,

www.holabird.org The Holabird-Kagin Americana Website

www.scripophily.net and www.scripophily.com Near-mirror sites from Bob Kerstein

 

www.scripophily.org International Bond and Share Society of Ashtead, Surrey, England,

 

www.smytheonline.com R. M. Smythe and Company was purchased by Spink

www.coxrail.com Terry Cox, author of Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads

 

www.realstockcertificates.com Commercial site with archived articles

 

www.numistoria.com SARL of Paris, France, with informative essays from the IBSS Scripophily quarterly.

www.nyse.com The New York Stock Exchange supports history and education with dropdowns on the lefthand side of the homepage.

 

www.sec.gov/answers/oldcer.htm The U.S. government’s Securities and Exchange Commission also gives an authoritative overview on the study and collecting of stock and bond certificates.

[mmarotta]

It is hard to show and entire stock certificate, as banknotebank.com assumes that paper is of a smaller size. However, here are two vingettes. Often, as in the case of banknotes, these were "stock" images from the printing company. In these two examples, the vignettes were customized.

 

Above is Gulf States Utilities.

 

Above is US Steel.

 

Showing the entire BACK of the paper can be significant because that is where you find the endorsements, transfers, tax stamps, legalisms, and other support. On the FACE of the certificate, you will find the name of the ower and the terms of issuance.

[Art]

Nice info Mike. The vignettes are super.

[mmarotta]

Thanks, Art. The paper contains so much that it is hard not to find a reason to collect them. They are not rare, that much should be clear. Maybe 19th century issues, the ones that would have been destroyed long ago, as inheritances were cleared and companies failed and depressions came and went and so on, like newspapers or other ephemera, really. So, yes, an original Edison Company or Union Pacific or Western Union, yes, those would be desirable for themselves.

 

Anything after 1930 and 1960 certainly must be considered common in the extreme. At the show I attended, a dealer wanted $2 for General Motors common stock. Seems OK, but he had a banker's box of them, shrink wrapped. Hard to see the value in them like that.

 

However, he did say that he pulled out for himself at least one with Kirk Kerkorian's name on it.

 

Did you ever hear of an author named Alexander King? His name goes by in Neil Diamond's "Done Too Soon." (Alexanders King and Graham Bell...) Read about him on Wikipedia here. I found a share with his name on it and put it with my copy of Mine Enemy Grows Older.