Beautiful stocks and bonds

Evan, if you get a chance could you scan or photograph that shortline certificate and post it -- I'd be interested in seeing it!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Sure thing. Once i get home i will post a picture.

 

Sorry about the pic.

 

Its not as fancy as most. But the rarity of how many were issued is pretty cool. I think one was even issued to Thomas Jefferson's grandson or something. Unfortunately i dont have a grand to spend on one.

 

According to the CoxRail stock/bond database, an issued certificate sells for about 10 times the price of an unissued example.

 

Living in colorado i really like this one. And ive been to both of those places which is why i bought it.

Thats a neat website. I dont know much about scripophily but i have some other certificates i need to look at.

 

I finally received my latest additions! Some great vignettes on these, all by American Bank Note Co.

The first is a 1917 specimen bond of the U.S. Rubber Co., which supplied raw material for tires as the auto industry was booming. Nice image of a worker tapping a rubber tree. I find specimens quite attractive -- often only one or two exist -- but they have gotten more expensive and elusive in recent years.


Here's another example of how you can still find nice certificates for $5 to $10. This stock of NY Railways stock cost me about $7 -- I couldn't resist the great trolley scene.


I have always been fascinated with high denomination bonds. Until now, the highest printed value in my collection was a $100,000 specimen bond. This one is half a million -- and actually issued. I believe the company was reorganizing and had to do some debt refinancing.

 

And today's color is ... orange!

A big shipment of stocks arrived in the mail yesterday and I didn't realize until I saw them all together that many shared a color theme. Most of these are railroad stocks, but you'll notice the cigarette manufacturer Lorillard among them. I'll scan some other colors this weekend.

 

Very nice!

 

Tonight I'll post another new addition -- not my oldest stock certificate, but now my oldest railroad stock. The Baltimore & Ohio was one of the earliest railroads in America and was actually organized in 1827. B&O stocks like this exist from the early 1830s, but imho any RR certificate from the 1840s is pretty cool. Consider that, at the time this was issued, gold had not yet been discovered in California, there were no intercontinental railroads, and the Oregon Trail was the only reliable land route to the West. Train wheels, in fact, started out as nothing more than reinforced wagon wheels, and passenger cars were simply adapted stagecoaches, as you can see on the central vignette.

This stock also comes with a mystery. It was obviously engraved by a bank note company in the manner of other notes from the era, probably around 1834. But there is no imprint of the bank note firm anywhere on it -- which is very unusual. Even the Coxrail database has no listing of the printer. The vignette of the locomotive "Novelty" is very similar to the one engraved by International Bank Note for later B&O certificates, but that one wasn't used until the 1880s and has many differences when compared with the earlier vignette. For one, the flag over train's boiler in the original has lettering that reads "Praesto Et Presso" -- Latin for "Here is the pressure" -- but no text appears on the later flag. Oddly enough this type of locomotive never ran on B&O tracks, it was designed in England and only ran there for a few years.

Looks like further research is in order!

 

Okay, last batch for a bit -- all railroads this time. Let's start with a couple more ancient ones. Ohio was one of the key central states for railroad traffic and there are many early certificates from here. This Ohio & Indiana RR stock from 1854 is typical -- printed on the same thin india paper as obsolete banknotes of the period. The Marietta & Cincinnati RR cert from 1867 even shares it's angelic central vignette with several banknotes.


Moving into the 20th century, the U.S. Freight Co stock sports a locomotive and an ocean liner, flanking an allegorical figure of Commerce (I think). From 1900 to 1967, the Seaboard Air Line Railway ran through the Atlantic coastal states from NYC to Key West. This certificate has a very low serial number, which makes me wonder if any of this preferred stock series were ever issued.


Lastly, here's a stock from the Chicago South Shore & South Bend RR -- one of the few I have that features electric locomotives. I always assumed electric trains were only used for trolley lines or commuter rail, but clearly the train on the right is pulling freight. I think some of these rails may still be in use between Chicago and NE Indiana.

 

Don't really collect stocks and bonds but when I see something with a really unusual name or other attention grabbing features, I grab it, check the name here:

 

I believe you'll find the train is the Tom Thumb, invented by Peter Cooper. The vignette supposedly shows the test ride taken by the B&O railroad board members when Cooper was trying to get B&O to upgrade their stock.

Well, as usual this computer illiterate posted in the wrong place. Sorry.

 

I think you're referring to the locomotive vignette on the B&O stock. I first thought it was the "Tom Thumb", too, and called it that for years. But, in fact, the train engine is the "Novelty" which ran only in England. They were built around the same time and looked similar. Here are a couple illustrations for comparison.

1846 B&O stock vignette:


The "Novelty"



The "Tom Thumb" on its test run.

 

Picked up another really attractive railroad bond -- payable in GOLD, at the time. Makes me wonder if it was cashed in during January 1933 with the knowledge that FDR was planning to move the U.S. off the gold standard when he took office that March.

 

Does the vignette look familiar?

 

That's a gorgeous certificate! And how unusual to have an odd denomination (80 shares) printed on it. Very nice!

 

Indeed it does - it's one of my favorites. That was one reason I picked up the M&C RR stock. Looks like you might have the ABNCo American Paper Money Collection. Great set isn't it?

 

It is indeed a great set; unfortunately half of the notes have been lost through the years and can't be replaced.