Taxonomy of a certificate : Passoeroean Stoomtram-Maatschappij

Taxonomy is the practice of describing, identifying, naming, and classifying things on the basis of characteristics. Using a predefined list of characteristics makes it easy to register your collectibles in a document, a spreadsheet, or any other database application.

As far as antique securities are concerned, you can define as many characteristics as you need. I usually consider two groups of characteristics :

• those that you derive from the certificate's appearance: physical characteristics 
• and those that you get after more research: researched characteristics.

As an example I use a Dutch stock certificate from the Passoeroean Stoomtram-Maatschappij, Dutch for 'Pasuruan Steam Tram Company'.

Physical characteristics

• Issuer : Naamloze Vennootschap Passoeroean Stoomtram-Maatschappij (PSM)
• Type :  share 
• Denomination : 100 gulden  
• Capital/Principal : 500,000 gulden 
• Issue date : 1st July, 1905
• Place of issue : 's-Gravenhage, the "old" name for Den Haag
• Registered or bearer : bearer 
• Lifecycle status : issued and uncancelled
• Printer : Zuid-Hollandsche Boek- en Handelsdrukkerij  
• Colors : blue 
• Design & vignettes : borders with scrollwork of leaves and flowers 
• Engraver : none mentioned
• Artist : none mentioned
• Language : Dutch
• Security features 
• seal : none
• watermark : none
• handwritten signatures : yes
• Notable person (signed by, issued to, transferred to) : none
• Format : vertical
• Medium carrier : paper
• Special remarks : -

This Passoeroean Stoomtram-Maatschappij share from 1905 was printed by the Zuid-Hollandsche Boek- en Handelsdrukkerij. The latter company became part of the Elsevier publishing house in the late 1970s.

Researched characteristics  

• Country of issuance : The Netherlands 
• Place of operations : Pasuruan, East Java
• Country of operations : Indonesia
• Type of operations : railway 
• Era : Ethical Policy program of the Dutch East Indies (1900-WWII)

Once you have specified a certificate's characteristics, you can use that information to find out more about the certificate, its issuer, the latter's location or possible notable persons involved. 

The term Naamloze Vennootschap, in short NV, corresponds to similar concepts in other countries such as Aktiebolag (AB), Aktiengesellschaft (AG), Incorporated (Inc), Public Limited Company (Plc), Société Anonyme, Sociedad Anónima and Spółka Akcyjna (SA), Società per Azioni and Societate pe Acțiuni  (SpA), Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία (A.E.), etc. In Indonesia the term Perseroan Terbatas (PT) is used.

What have I learned about this antique share certificate?

Sugar producers need a tramway

The illustrated share in the Passoeroean Stoomtram-Maatschappij (PSM) was issued in 1905 during the so-called Ethical Policy program. Aimed at promoting the living conditions of the Indonesians, this Dutch colonial policy comprised these pillars : 

1. Irrigation, introduction of banking services and subsidies for indigenous industries and handicrafts,
2. Education, including the organization of a Dutch school system,
3. Migration of people from the over-populated Java to the less densely populated areas of Indonesia.

Unlike the Ethical Policy program, the PSM was a success. The company organized transport of passengers and products such as sugarcane, tea and tobacco for nearly 100 years. Actually sugar cultivation was the main reason to set up this tramway company.

The PSM imported locomotives made by Lokomotivbau Hohenzollern, HANOMAG and Cockerill. The one shown on this picture taken around 1910 is the Cockerill C2201 "Louisa".

image : Tidak Diketahui, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Colonial Indonesia's Liberal Period introduced private (mainly Dutch) entrepreneurship. The Sugar Act of 1870 allowed private companies to start sugar cane plantations in the Dutch East Indies. Soon, the region around Pasuruan saw the startup of several sugar factories. Pasuruan lies in East Java along the coast line between Surabaya and Probolinggo.

To provide cheap and fast rail transport to and from the sugar mills, the government granted several concessions to the PSM for building and operating a railway. The 6km track between Pasuruan and Warung Dowo was inaugurated on May 21, 1896. Others sections followed. The last one was opened in 1912 and connected Warung Dowo with Ngempit over a 5km distance. 

Some of PSM's branches were closed under Japanese Occupation during World War II. Others were further closed due to increased competition by road transport. The remainder of the PSM lines are now operated by PT Kereta Api Indonesia.

Oh, did you know that the Indonesian word for tram is trem !

F.L.

Previous posts 

• George Bellows's Men of the Docks 
• Scripophily Puzzle No. 4 - solution 

F.H.W. auctions 1900 lots of historic securities in online event. Scripophily from Germany and Austro-Hungarian Empire substantial.

Freunde Historischer Wertpapiere (FHW) has scheduled its 119th sale for February 20, 2021. This time auctioneer Jörg Benecke and his team selected nearly 1900 lots of historic bonds and share certificates. Major sections have been reserved for scripophily from the USA, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and of course Germany.

The auction starts with the American scripophily section, over 240 lots, the bigger part being railway securities. 

L(ot) 41 is an uncancelled! stock certificate from The Cincinnati, Portsmouth & Virginia Railroad Company. Henry Fink signed in 1903 this share as President. He was born in Germany and was called the "Dean of Railroad Men", a title he earned for his continuous service in the railroad field. Fink started his career in 1851 as a rodman on the Western Maryland Railroad. Within several railroad companies he climbed up from construction engineer and master of transportation all the way to vice president, general manager, and receiver. Henry Fink wrote several works on transportation subjects.

Here are some other interesting US railway lots : 

• L44, The Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore Railroad, 5% First Income Mortgage Bond, $1000, 1883, rare 
• The Tyrone and Clearfield Railway Company share from 1867, L221, displays a lovely railway vignette and is signed by John Edgar Thomson best know for his leadership of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thomson, an entrepreneur but also a reknown civil engineer co-designed what became known as "Horseshoe Curve".
• L29, The Central Pacific Railway Company, $500 4% First Refunding Mortgage Gold Bond, 1899, color print by ABN with portrait of Collis Potter Huntington, rare 

One of the main roles in FHW's event is played by k.u.k. and its successor states (Nachfolgestaaten). The Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) comprised Austria, Hungary and parts of todays Italy, Serbia, Croatia, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland and Ukrain. It was the second-largest country in Europe after the Russian Empire at over 620,000 km2. The "kaiserlich und königlich" refers to "imperial (Austria)" and "royal (Hungary)".  The sale features over 300 k.u.k. lots including this lovely fire engine share.

L507 is a 100 Forint share from the Tarnóczy Tűzoltószer- És Gépgyár Részvenytársasag, in English: Tarnóczy Fire engine and Machine Company. Issued in Budapest, 1891, it shows the company's factory, hand-operated fire engines, lathes, a blacksmith and a firefighter with firehose. 

The lion's share of new offerings can be found in two major sections of the auction: Germany before, and, after 1945. The former counts 272 lots, the latter - the "DM" part - features 495 lots. As good as all regions and economic themes are represented. I checked out the catalog reference index on 'breweries and malthouses' and found tens of entries ! 

The economy of West Germany developed rapidly after World War II. This "Wirtschaftswunder" created a heavy demand for steel. German post-WWII securities are often artistically designed. Modern German steel scripophily counts perhaps the most stunning examples. Check FHW's catalog for L1816 Stahlwerke Peine-Salzgitter, L1542 Dortmund-Hörder Hüttenunion and L1641 Hüttenwerke Phoenix. This 1000 DM specimen share in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Eisen- und Stahlwerke AG dates from 1953, L1764 in the sale. Click image to enlarge

Top German item in the sale is L1223, a founders share from 1838 in the Gesellschaft für Spinnerei & Weberei in Ettlingen, the first public limited company in the German cotton industry. The share shows the detailed floor plan of the factory and its usage of hydropower from the Alb, a tributary of the Upper Rhine. The company is known today as ETTLIN AG and still manufactures fabric and technical textiles. 

You want to inspect the "50%" lot range 688-1126. Here, unsold lots from previous sales are offered again at 50% of the original start price. Included are also bonds and shares from the Dr. Werner P. Schmidt Automobile and China Collection.  

From the Dr. Werner P. Schmidt Automobile Collection, L881 consists of two Volvo shares from the 1930s. Volvo was founded in 1927 as a subsidiary of the ball bearing manufacturer SKF. The share shown here bears the facsimile signature of SKF founder Sven Wingqvist. 

There is a lot to discover in the sale, so here are the details :

• Date : 20 February, 2020
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/ 

F.L.

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George Bellows's Men of the Docks

What have a Lamport & Holt steamer, the Brooklyn Bridge, and John Jacob Astor in common ? The answer is : a painting !

Men of the Docks is an oil painting by American artist George Bellows. He made it in New York and finished it in 1912. The work shows you longshoremen on a wharf along the East River. The weather is cold, it has snowed and across the river we see the first sunlit skyscrapers of Manhattan. 

The work is now on display in London at the National Gallery. Purchased in 2014 at the price of $25.5 million, Bellows's painting was the museum's first major American painting. 

I invite you to watch National Gallery's curator Christopher Riopelle, who does an amazing job telling us what Bellows really painted and why the painting was particularly relevant in April 1912. Sure, you'll find out that a Lamport & Holt steamer, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Astors feature in his story as well.

Tip : You can watch the 26' video expanded up your entire screen by clicking the Full Screen button (the rightmost icon at the bottom).

George Bellows's 'Men of the Docks' | The History of the National Gallery in Six Paintings

courtesy The National Gallery

https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/ 

That was interesting, wasn't it? It felt like making a journey through space and time. All that remains is for me to show you the share certificates I used for the collage at the beginning of this post.

This Lamport and Holt Limited share was issued on 7 Nov 1912, only a few months after George Bellows completed his Men of the Docks. Shipping lines painted their ships' funnels (chimneys) in distinctive colours to distinguish them from competitors. In the ship vignette the funnel is printed in three shades of grey. As you could see in the Bellows painting the real funnel colors were black, white and blue.

The Brooklyn Elevated Railway Company, founded as the Brooklyn Elevated Silent Safety Railway, was in 1884 reorganized as the Brooklyn Elevated Railroad Company. One year earlier, the Brooklyn Bridge was opened. The bridge carried pedestrians, horse-drawn vehicles and elevated railway lines into the 1950s. The large vignette on this 1880 issued share includes one of the bridge's suspension towers designed in Gothic Revival style.

image courtesy : Mario Boone, The Scripophily Center

The Wagner Palace Car Company made luxurious sleeping and parlor cars for trains. This share was issued in 1895 to John Jacob Astor IV. He signed it on the reverse (lower image). The Astor’s owned lots of real estate property including parts of Lower Manhattan, the Times Square area and the land where the Empire State Building is now. John Jacob Astor IV was the wealthiest person aboard the Titanic. Actor Eric Braeden portrayed him in James Cameron's Titanic, starring Leonardi DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. John Jacob Astor IV did not survive the Titanic when it sank on 15 April 1912, but his pregnant wife was rescued. 

F.L.

Previous posts

• Solution of scripophily puzzle no. 4
• Poll results - collecting motives 

Pioneering communication technology and lots more ready for take off at Spink

SPINK's latest timed scripophily auction went live earlier this week and ends at 11 AM GMT on Feb 16, 2021. This online sale presents about 600 lots of antique bonds and shares from all continents.

SPINK's e-Auction includes a large American section. The Utah Lithographing Co. S. L. C produced this stunning print for the Fairview Southend Mining Co. We've seen other lovely scripophily works by this printer, such as those made for the Salt Lake and Ogden Railway Co., depicting a tramcar and a mountain and lake landscape, and for the Dromedary Hump Mines Company illustrated with a dromedary. This 1906 issued share certificate shows a native American at nightfall watching the first star that appears behind the mountain tops. L(ot)534

For this sale SPINK specialist Mike Veissid selected a remarkable number of antique bonds ands shares from companies pioneering in the field of communication technology. Marconi needs no introduction, L292 is a share from Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. Edison is represented with a £100 share in The Edison Telephone Company of Glasgow, 1880, L281. 

Here are some other fascinating items :

• Most of us still remember the fax machine. L290 Kamm's Zerograph Syndicate (1905), Limited, issued in 1906, is signed by Leo Kamm who invented a filmless movie projector but also a telegraph transmitting text that was printed at the receiving end. 
• Two 1911 shares in The National Telewriter Company, Limited comprise lot 296.
• Military commander and aviation pioneer Baden Baden-Powell signed L286, The Helsby Wireless Telegraph Company, 1910. 
• A share in The Kilduchevsky Mega Telephone Syndicate, Limited, L291, is signed by another aviation pioneer, Paul de Kilduchevsky.

The German Josef H. Reineke invented this wireless telephone system for use in mining environments. A demonstration of Reineke's system was given in 1913 at the Annandale Pit, Kilmarnock, belonging to the Carrington and Auchlochan Coal Co. It was stated that with a portable apparatus in case of an accident, when ordinary telephone wires would be broken, it would be possible to converse with entombed miners. Officials of Dinnington Main Colliery, Yorkshire, where the system was tested for six months, often spoke from the pit-head or the pit-bottom to an operator in the cage while in motion. They also communicated with success through a mile of solid coal. L299 in the auction.

source: The Electrical Review, Vol. 73 No. 1869, Sep 19, 1913.

Also prominent in the sale is a series of securities related to arms, explosives and weapons : 

• Probably the most splendid scripophily in this theme is a share in The Colt Gun and Carriage Company, Limited. Issued in 1906 it is embellished with vignettes of soldiers and machine guns, L306. 
• L312 is a share in John Rigby & Co. (Gunmakers), Limited. Rigby, one of the oldest gunmaking companies in the world became famous in the 18th century for its dueling pistols. 
• Hiram Percy Maxim is credited with inventing the firearm silencer. L311 is a Maxim Silencer Company, Limited share from 1909 with embossed seal depicting guns.

The Rexer Arms Company acquired the rights to manufacture the Danish Madsen machine gun in the British Empire. After a legal battle on patents Rexer changed its focus on producing the Rexer Steam Car, without success. L323, £1 shares certificate, 1906, vignette of aiming soldier 

There is a lot more to discover. Collectors of scripophily from South Africa, Rhodesia and Egypt will be delighted, as well as those looking for new automobiles, motorcycles and tobacco material !

Here are the sale's details : 

• Location : online auction only
• Date : ends on 16 February, 2021 at 11:00 AM
• Further info : see Spink's online catalogue with full color images here 

Into African and Belgian Congo scripophily? Then this top signature of Henry Morton Stanley will definitely interest you. As an agent of King Leopold II of Belgium, Stanley searched for the source of the Nile and explored central Africa. Detail from L303, W. T. Henley's Telegraph Works Company Limited

F.L.

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