Tuesday, December 26, 2017

Scripophily magazine reveals early Fiji scripophily

The International Bond & Share Society (IBSS) recently launched its 105th issue of Scripophily magazine. IBSS started 40 years ago and since then has been encouraging collecting of antique securities. The society publishes its flagship, Scripophily magazine,  three times a year and also offers a free newsletter.

This time the magazine counts over 50 pages illustrated with more than 100 images of bonds and shares.  An overview of the stories :
  • Digging scripophily at the Carrera Marble Quarries 
  • "Numismatics, meet Scripophily" exhibit at the American Numismatic Association Convention 
  • The Newport Casino 
  • Rogues Gallery, extract from Hollender's Financing the World
  • Scripophily of the Gold Coast and Ghana 
  • Animal vignettes 
  • U.S. Presidents on Scripophily 
  • Profile and history of the Warner Company 
  • Southern Revenue-stamped stock certificates of the Civil War Era, part II 
  • "Selling the Stock", about the use of securities as advertising and promotion material 
  • The New York Produce Exchange 
  • Cox's Corner, the periodical column on our hobby 
Other recurring topics are : society matters, news, bourse reviews, auction reviews, events calendar, member classifieds, book reviews, interviews, letters to the editor and the like. 

The auction section includes tens of reports from sales in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, UK and USA. Noted top sellers were shares from the Compagnie des Indes, Bank of China and a BMW founder's specimen share. The magazine provides more details on these and hundreds of other lots auctioned over the past months worldwide. One eyecatcher was a Fiji share sold by Downies, Australia, illustrated below.

Downies 324th sale ran from 18th to 20th July 2017. The auction took place in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia, and included a remarkable, early Fijian share certificate from The Polynesia Company, Limited. 

Polynesia Company share certificate

The Polynesia Company, Limited 
certificate for £2 shares, 1869 
An alert collector purchased this early Fiji scripophily 
for (only) A$120, buyer's premium not included. 
image : Downies

Before Fiji became a British colony in 1874, its government was dominated by European settlers. The Polynesia Company incorporated 7th Dec 1868 after purchasing around 200,000 acres of land around Suva in Fiji. The land was bought from local chiefs including warlord Cakobau, a former cannibal before he was christened in 1854. Because of the rising price of cotton following the American Civil War (1861-1865), the company had become interested in acquiring land in Fiji for planting cotton. However, several legal issues arose when it turned out that the land Cakobau had sold was not completely his to give. 

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F.L.