Archives International Auctions - part XXXII

Lot 275 Gillette Safety Razor Company

less than 100 shares certificate, specimen
printed by ABN

-

Top sportsmen David Beckham, Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry 

used to promote Gillette razors and shaving products. But it was more than a 

100 years ago that King C. Gillette introduced his safety razor equiped with 

disposable blades of stamped steel. Several models of razors are depicted on Gillette 
certificates. This certificate shows the "1920 Big Fellow" model. 
"Gillette" has become part of our collective memory, even in non trivial domains. 
In laser research, a "Gillette" is an informal measurement used as a rough estimate 
of a laser's penetrative power : a "four-Gillette laser", for example, can burn through 
four Gillette safety razor blades.

-

Start price $200

Archives International Auctions - Part XXXII

U.S., Russian, Chinese & Worldwide Banknotes, 

Coins, Scripophily & Security Printing Ephemera

• Dates : April 11-13, 2016 (Three live and one internet only session) 
• Place : Fort Lee, NJ 
• Further info : see here

F.L.

Scripophily 99 reveals the first scripophilist in the history of mankind

The last issue of Scripophily magazine, No. 99, released in December 2015, features again articles with high scripophily content. Some statistics :

• number of pages : 32 pages
• number of bond and share images : 64
• number of auction reports : 32
• number of authors and reporters : 15

To me, the big surprise in this issue was the story on the first scripophilist. Most introductory texts in the hobby speak of early collectors in the 1970s. I've always thought that the oldest scripophilist (a collector or researcher of antique stocks and bonds) was Grover C Criswell. Criswell published his book Confederate and Southern State Bonds in 1961, that is 55 years ago. 

But in this issue, Scripophily author Max Hensley brings us the story of his findings in a California archive. The author tells us ... 

(the archive) contains what I believe to be the first documented intact US scripophily collection. I'm not talking about the usual accumulations of stocks assembled by archivists into 'collection' files, or accumulations from lawyers, trust companies, corporations and others who acquired their certificates in the ordinary course of business rather than by any collecting impulse.

The article contains lots of details on the collection, and is a fascinating read. You can actually feel the author's excitement in this scripophily adventure. The bottom line is that this first collector has a name, Andrew J Moulder, and that he was collecting in the 1890s or even sooner. This dates our hobby more than 125 years back from today. A must read to any serious collector.

Scripophily 99's front cover depicts a startling
1854 Cocos Island Treasure Company share,
one of the treasures in the Moulder Collection.
double-click image to enlarge

What's else in the magazine ? Here's, an overview of the other stories in Scripophily's last December issue :

• The road ahead, a statement for the near future by IBSS chairman Martin Zanke
• Herzog Collection debuts at Wall Street Collectibles Show
• John Herzog on selling his collection, interview with the man himself
• The Wall Street vignette
• Let me entertain you with antique stock certificates - by Fred Fuld III, book review
• The Stockton & Darlington Railway
• Oldest Siemens share certificate
• French colonial companies, interview with Alain Léger
• The first US scripophilist ?
• Hotel Arcadia - Santa Monica California
• 50% growth in worldwide auction sales - four months to Nov 2015
• Ottoman Railways
• Cox's Corner : More catalogs please
• Other periodical topics : society matters, news, bourse reviews, auction reviews, events calendar, member classifieds, book reviews, interviews and lots of pictures of collector friends and scripophily

Scripophily magazine is a publication from the International Bond & Share Society.

F.L.

Related links

• International Bond & Share Society (IBSS)
• IBSS on Facebook 

Mario Boone - Auction 56

Boone will auction about 1600 lots of antique bond and share certificates on 19 March 2016. One of the highlights is an exceptional early Antwerp city bond.

Lot 418 detail from the 1664 Antwerp city bond below
Since the 15th century, the Antwerp arms show a hand on each side of a castle.
This bond depicts an earlier version of the arms with the hands placed on flags.

Lot 418 : Bond for 281 Carolus guilders and 5 Stuivers, issued by the City of Antwerp, 1664.
The obligation debt was payable to Clara Antheunissen Gasparsdochter, owed to her for land which
she had sold to Ambrosius Breughel. The bond is expressed in Carolus guilders which was
the official currency in the Habsburg Netherlands since Emperor Charles V, from 1521 to 1680.
Ambrosius Brueghel (1617-1675) , son of Jan Brueghel the elder and grandson of Pieter Brueghel the elder
was, just as his forefathers, a Flemish baroque painter who specialized in landscapes.
Clara Antheunissen Gasparsdochter is the daughter of Antheunis Gasparsz and
granddaughter of the art dealer Gaspar Antheunis. 

The bond above is signed by Philips Rubens as town clerk of Antwerp.
Philips Rubens (1611-1678) was the nephew and biographer of the painter Pieter Paul Rubens.
The combination of the Rubens and Brueghel families make this an exceptional historic certificate.

The certificate on Boone's catalog cover is a 1000 French francs share, 

unissued and printed in the 1840s for the Basel based

Dampfschiffahrts-Gesellschaft der Adler des Ober-Rheins

(freely translated: Eagle of the Upper-Rhine Steamship Company)

Practical info

• Auction date: 19 March 2016 
• Place: Antwerp, Belgium
• Further info, see here 

Tip for 20 March : IBSS Breakfast meeting followed by Boone's International Scripophily Bourse, at the same place.

F.L.


Collecting stocks and bonds? Please participate in this anonymous poll.