Nonvaleur magazine

The word Nonvaleur sounds like a French word but actually it is German. 

Nonvaleurs refer to securities that have become worthless (French : non valeur, 'no value').

A new magazine about scripophily

Nonvaleur Nachrichten | News is a new bilingual magazine for scripophily enthousiasts. Self-published by Ulrich W. Hanke, also known as the author of the blog Hankes Historische. Yes, you read it correctly : bilingual ! Articles are written in both the German and English language. 

Topics in its first issue :

• Volkswagen
• Petchilli Bonds
• Rarities from Frankfurt
• Companies: Houille Bleue (France), Molinos (Argentina)
• Nonvaleur of the month: New York Central (USA)
• Dahlbusch (Germany)
• Letters, Classifieds
• Auctions reviews and previews
• Piece for 1 $ | eBay: Top 10
• ...

Further info, see http://nonvaleur-nachrichten.de/

F.L.

Mario Boone - Golden Jubilee Auction

Part 1 - 50th auction

image : Kimberlite Diamond Mining and Washing Company

stock certificate for 400 shares of $5 each, issued 1913

double-click image to enlarge

Part 2 - Jubilee auction

image: Ballon Aerostatique de Montgolfier

certificate issued by the Canal de Givors company 

to invest in a balloon project by Mr. Montgolfier

1783

• Date: 5-6-7 April 2013
• Place: Antwerp, BELGIUM
• Further info, see here 

F.L.

Digest of scripophily readings X

New online scripophily articles and references, March 2013

Vintage Railroad Stocks and Bonds

Early February, Pete Angelos launched Vintage Railroad Stocks and Bonds, a new scripophily blog for US railroad enthousiasts. I'll quote the author : Hopefully this blog will get comments from veteran collectors and may spark some future collectors to take up this great hobby.  

My radio is tuned, Pete !

The Manual of Statistics Stock Exchange Hand-book

At the end of the 19th century, Charles M. Goodsell and Henry E. Wallace wrote a series of stock exchange year books. Each one of these volumes contained thousands of entries to company profiles and their securities, government securities, economical and stock exchange statistics, and maps of railway systems. Topics covered : railroads, street railways, miscellaneous and industrial companies, grain and produce, cotton, petroleum, mining, banks, trust and insurance companies. Sales price of a book : five dollars in 1915.

Nine of these year books have been digitized by Google from the library of the University of Michigan and uploaded to the Internet Archive. You can find the links to these volumes here :

• 1897
• 1898
• 1901
• 1903
• 1905
• 1908
• 1910
• 1912
• 1915

On each one of the pages mentioned above, on the left, you'll find a link 'Read Online' to the online version. The 'All Files: HTTPS' link, brings you to a web directory that includes a link to a downloadable PDF file. But be prepared : some of these files are almost 100 MB large.

Scripophily Magazine

In addition to the online sources above, the latest Dec 2012 No.90 issue of Scripophily magazine, published by the International Bond and Share Society , contains the following stories :

• Save them! Save them! Stock certificates under assault worldwide
• Avant Garde 1930s decorator trend discovered (stock certificates as wall paper)
• Cox's Corner #15 : Loving the hobby 
• Specophily celebrates five year anniversary (about speculation in old paper)
• My fair ladies : help wanted! (Are ladies portraited in stock engravings famous personalities?)
• History of Congo railways
• Scripophily in the Netherlands
• other periodical topics : News, Bourse Reviews, Book Reviews, Auction Reviews, Events calendar, Member Classifieds

F.L.
Signed the Guest book yet ?

Habemus Papam

What's the number of scripophily collectors in the Vatican City? I wonder. According to the outcome of an earlier exercise on estimating the number of collectors, see here, I estimate that number at zero collectors .. on a population of less than 1000 people.

emblem of the Vatican
detail from the share below

Papal scripophily

Modern bonds have been issued by the Papal States since the early 1800s. Many of those certificates bear the emblem of the Papacy. Rather puzzling are share certificates printed with such an emblem. The emblem shown above is such an example. Why does this emblem appear on a share of a French fishing company ?

Pêcheries de la Morinie
English: Fisheries of Morinie
share of 1000 Francs, Boulogne-Sur-Mer, 1934
double-click to enlarge

Tiara and Keys

The emblem on the share depicts the Papal tiara and the keys of Saint Peter. Both are used as external ornaments in the coat of arms of the Vatican. Often the keys are shown in gold and silver. Both represent heaven (gold) and earth (silver) and are in the hands of the pope.

Sede vacante

There is a variant of the emblem, using an umbraculum, an "umbrella", instead of the tiara. That version is applied between the reigns of two popes. After the death or resignation of a pope, the Holy See enters a period of sede vacante, or freely translated "vacant seat". 

Nominative annual perpetuity of 102 scudi and 64 baiocchi, dated 1829.

The certificate was printed with the emblem sede vacante.

double-click to enlarge image

Source: Titoli Azionari Antichi - V Edizione 

by Alex Witula, Portafoglio Storico

The papal emblems can also be found on stamps, notes and coins, even the sede vacante variant.

Scudo, 1846 , sede vacante
Cardinal Tommaso Riario-Sforza
source: Classical Numismatic Group