Guadeloupe is a small group of islands forming one French overseas department in the Caribbean. Very few Guadeloupean bond and share certificates are known. G Cifré's La France d'Outre-Mer only lists seven certificates. From a statistical point, the chance of finding scripophily with a map of Guadeloupe would be one in a million.
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| Société Anonyme des Usines de Beauport 5000 Francs share, undated |
In 1908 the sugar factory Société Anonyme des Sucreries de Port-Louis (SASPL) was taken over by three Bordeaux families, who operated it as the Société Anonyme des Usines de Beauport (SAUB). The company was founded in 1863 and made use of its own railway system to transport sugar cane from the surrounding estates. After World War I more and more bananas were grown on the islands. Sugar, once a highly profitable trade, lost gradually its importance and suffered from several poor harvests. SAUB went bankrupt in 1981.
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The map on the certificate shows Guadeloupe's two main islands. It is not visible on the rather roughly drawn map, but both islands, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, are separated by a narrow sea channel called Rivière Salée (Salt River). Double-click image to enlarge. |
Guadeloupe was colonized from 1635 onward by the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique, a French chartered company. Over the next two centuries the British seized the island group several times from the French. Just before French control of Guadeloupe was internationally accepted after the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, Sweden owned Guadeloupe for about 15 months as a result of the Anglo-Swedish Alliance in 1813. Have you seen any early Swedish Guadeloupe scripophily ? Me neither, but scripophily often reveals big surprises, sooner or later.
F.L.
Reference links
- The Railways of Guadeloupe 2013 by Rob and Yuehong Dickinson
- Wikipedia's Guadeloupe
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