Authenticity of 110 Year Old Stock Certificate

Lithographs do use dots to shade or blend colors, but if there's a dot pattern across *everything* then it's clearly not from that time period. So far it's still in the legit category.

 

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"Feckin' Bruges? Who will get the reference..."

I'm a dunce, what is the reference?

 

The movie 'In Bruges'.

Good movie.

 

I agree, after watching the movie I put a visit on my bucket list.

 

midas1, is this your first bond purchase from that era? If you are used to collecting 100 year old acid-filled wood pulp paper ephemera, this will be a completely different animal. If there can be gem crisp uncirculated paper money from 150 years ago and older, there can certainly be perfectly preserved financial instruments from the early 20th century, all of which would have been folded exactly as you describe. I have a original bound volume of the London Times from 1816, and each paper is as fresh as the day it was printed, due to it's being stored in a cool, dark location.

 

My mom just left for a trip to Europe for a river cruise, and this morning texted me a photo from her hotel room in Bruges, which is in the castle of the Duke of Burgundy...

 

Without having it in hand it looks fine to me. If it was a reprint they'd be all over the place, there is no money in reprinting one of them, and a reputable seller is not knowingly going to sell a fake.

General ephemera gets around, in all climates, bonds usually spend decades in vaults and deed boxes, especially nominally valueless ones.

European chromolithography led the world at the time.

 

"is this your first bond purchase from that era? If you are used to collecting 100 year old acid-filled wood pulp paper ephemera"

rugrats, No, this is not my first purchase from the era however, of my purchases from that era most were printed in the USA. I've been collecting ephemera for decades, including some in old wood frames. This week I removed from wood frames - a certificate from 1898 "American Flag House and Betsy Ross Memorial Association" w/ four very interesting signatures; 1914 "National Star Spangled Banner Centennial," with one interesting signature and my favorite 1938, "Charted Institute of American Inventors" with images of a Hupmobile style vehicle,a period seaplane and two radio towers.

Had I not removed these documents from the frames I would not question their authenticity due to the printing, paper, appearance and overall "feel."

It's interesting that some very experienced ephemera dealers stated the print and/paper wasn't right. OTOH, one or two said it was right. I'll find out for sure at "http://www.rsschell.com/" next year.

"reputable seller is not knowingly going to sell a fake."
I agree.

"My mom just left for a trip to Europe for a river cruise, and this morning texted me a photo from her hotel room in Bruges, which is in the castle of the Duke of Burgundy..."

Your mom is a very lucky lady.

 

I know right, having me as her son?

 

Of course! Also, she's very fortunate to land in Bruges.

 

And no doubt MEC paid for her trip.

 

I hope he didn't spend any of his beautiful notes.

 

Oh HELL NO. She pulls her own freight, she just retired and she and a friend are on a river cruise. Heck, *I* wouldn't spend as much on a vacation as she just did... holy moly. I told her to stop spending my inheritance...

 

"I told her to stop spending my inheritance..."

Yeah, they can be selfish that they.

 

Update on an old thread:

I just scanned my Bruges certificate then enlarged it then cropped it. (I can post a higher resolution scan if requested) My take is the entire certificate (except for text?) is made up of colored dots.
I wonder if this printing technology was available in 1904?

According to the listing in the Booneshare.com Auction catalog the original certificates had a "large watermark of anchors and flowers." My certificate lacks that watermark.

Complete certificate description from the Booneshare.com catalog:

"WEST-VLAANDEREN. BRUGES. Action Privilégiée de F500. multicolour. #9000. No 4209. One of the finest and most popular of all Belgian shares. The company was formed in 1895 to build new ports at Heyst-sur-Mer, on the Belgian coast (now Zeebrugge), and at Bruges, together with a canal to link the two. The city of Bruges was a major investor. There was a real need for the new facilities; Bruges was linked to the sea only by a narrow canal to Ostend. The shares were issued in 1895, but these definitive certificates did not appear until 1904. The design shows the new sea-port, fineviews of Bruges, angel, anchor and much more. Beautiful printing, by the prestigious St. AugustinCompany, of Bruges, and a large watermark of anchors and flowers. There are two types of this action privilégiée; this is the lower-numbers type, with the brown shield above the bear. Uncancelled

 

That looks to me exactly like a typical turn-of-the-century lithograph. Here's an old lithographed cigar box label from the 1890s for comparison -- very similar dot pattern.

 

Interesting.

Good to know other printing from that era show the same printing technique as my certificate.