Anyone know anything about these little bills? Mostly all have American Bank Note company on the reverse and the art work detail is pretty amazing! Any comments?
Not an expert on the subject, but they look like coupons - a block of them would have been attached to the original bond, one to be cut off each month and redeemed for that month’s interest.
Railroadiana or Railroad ephemera has always been very collectible and there are some beautiful bonds and stock certificates out there. @dwhiz would like these. and may be able to contribute.
@tommyc03 I'm not 100% sure but this may be all of my RR ephemera. The stock certificate was a gift from a friend in Woleboro, NH that has a antique shop. The second item I forget were that came from. The 3rd item I bought at a coin show from the guy that operates the old BPE printing press. I may have more.
As I recall Dave Bowers sold a bunch of American Bank note items a few years ago. I don't recall if it was Bowers and Ruddy, Bowers and Merina or which company he was associated with.
I'm happy to see some comments on these! Here's a few more pics! I gotta do some research on these. I know there's a couple of private Railroad ephemera companies online who buy stuff like this but I'm gonna keep them a little while longer as I have other stuff to sell. In short, I love trains and railroad stuff!
I believe those are known as bearer bonds, presumably a means by which the railroads raised working capital, in the same way that companies today, and governments, issue bonds to raise money. You can learn more by searching "railroad bearer bonds." Unlike bonds issued to buyers by name, bearer bonds are "owned" by whoever has possession of them (the bearer). They were outlawed in the U.S. in the 1980s because they lent themselves too easily to things like tax evasion and money laundering. If you ever saw Die Hard, you may recall that Hans Gruber and his gang took over Nakatomi Plaza in an attempt to rob a safe containing millions of dollars worth of bearer bonds.
