"Auction Explosion!" says Scripophily magazine

Scripophily is the world’s most comprehensive and insightful publication for passionate collectors and active researchers of antique securities. 

The magazine uncovers the stories and features of historic and artistic securities. It brings tales of famous and forgotten business plot twists and memorable personalities. In addition, reports from the auction markets help you to stay up-to-date.

Scripophily, a three-yearly periodical, printed on high quality paper, is the flagship of The International Bond and Share Society (IBSS). 

Here is an overview on the topics brought in the latest issue :

• Events Calendar 
• Michigan Copper Mining Stock Discovered
• Boone To Celebrate 40 years with International Scripophily Event in Antwerp
• Earliest known German Stock Hammered Down at 72,000 Euros
• Bang-Up Scripophily at Bonhams New York
• National Show Back on Track! (27 & 28 Jan 2023, Crown Plaza-Dulles Airport)
• Banks in Transition: From Counters to Apps (Swiss Finance Museum new exhibition) 
• Address on Stock Leads to Present Day 
• eBay Seller Name Fraudulently Used to Pitch Scam
• Letter to the Editor 
• Lingenfelter Collection Donated to the University of California at San Diego 
• EDHAM wins Wikipedia Award and awards Professor Wanner Prize 
• $2.4 Million for one Bond (Marchel Duchamp at Christie's)
• The Winpennys of Manyunk
• Specialization in Our Hobby
• Deutsche Bank Part III: Shares in Deutsche Bank as a Mirror of German Currency History
• W. Y. O. D. and Other Strange Mining Company Names
• Modernizing Certificates 
• Agua Suja Mining Co., Ltd - Diamonds in Brazil 
• Charles Yerkes and the West Chicago Street Railroad

Until 2010 LLoyd Aéreo Boliviano was the principal airline of Bolivia. Founded in 1925, LAB is one of the earliest airlines in the world. This share, issued in 1926 La Paz, sold in HWPH's Sep 2022 auction for €160. 

In its current issue Scripophily reports on exceptional auction activity from recent months. Five-digit amounts are hammered for top historic items, such as:

• John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Company founders' stock certificate (Bonhams, $28,000)
• the oldest known German share certificate from the Embden Asiatic Company which traded with China (FHW, €72,000)
• Oost-Indische Compagnie aka V.O.C. bond (HWPH, €40,000)
• the oldest loan of the City of Antwerp from 1558 (Booneshares, €36,000) 
• Nikola Tesla owned share in the Nikola Tesla Company (Bonhams, $28,000) 
• and a share owned by Frederick-William III of Prussia (HWPH, €25,000) 

More details and images on these recent scripophily highlights, and many other discoveries, can be found in the 48 pages counting December issue.

Subscribing to IBSS's magazine costs you only £28, $35 or €32. What are you waiting for ?

All the info can be found here .

F.L.

Previous posts

• The most expensive share sold at auction in 2021 
• Banks in Transition : from Counters to Apps (exhibition)

HWPH - Auction 39 and 40

HWPH Auction 39

cover: Preussische Boden Credit Actienbank

Share of 200 Thaler, Berlin, 1873

printed by Preußische Staatsdruckerei

Lot 105 in HWPH Auction 39

Potosi, La Paz & Peruvian Mining Association

Consolidated Share of £ 15, London, 1827

design with early lathe work printing by John Ellis

--

One of the first Bolivian mining companies as 

Bolivia's independence was proclaimed on July 10, 1825. 

double-click images to enlarge

The coat of arms of Bolivia depicts
the Potosi silver mountain with a sun rsing above it.

HWPH Online Auction 40

cover: Ushitschko Akzionarsko Druschtwo "Zlatibor"

5 Shares of 200 Dinar

Uzice, Yugoslavia, 1921

• Date: 17 October 2015  - Auction 39 ;  19 October 2015 - Auction 40
• Place: Auction 39, Wiesbaden, GERMANY
• Further info, see here

F.L.

The Copper Handbook - a manual of the copper mining industry of the world

image by Boone Shares

Following is a list of the elements with which copper is found chemically united in nature. This list includes 29 of the 77 elements known to science at this writing. Following the name of each element is its chemical symbol and atomic weight, as now figured by the best authorities : 

Aluminium Al 27.1

Antimony Sb 120

Arsenic As 75

Bismuth Bi 208.3

Calcium Ca 40.1

Carbon C 12

Chlorine Cl 35.45

Cobalt Co 59

Copper Cu 63.6

Hydrogen H 1.01

Iron Fe 56

Lead Pl 206.9

Manganese Mn 55

Nickel Ni 58.7

Niobium Nb 93.7

Nitrogen N 14.04

Oxigen O 16

Phosphorus P 31

Platinum Pt 195

Selenium Se 79.2

Silicon Si 28.4

Silver Ag 107.93

Sulphur S 32.06

Tellurium Te 127.5

Tin Sn 119

Tungsten W 184

Uranium U 240

Vanadium V 51.4

Zinc Zn 65.4

Excerpt from The Copper Handbook 1903, Vol. III for the year 1902, page 27

More than 2000 copper mines in all parts of the world

Scripophily auctioneers and a few blessed collectors use the book for researching companies. The 1903 issue contains 2207 company profiles. Most of the mines included are located in the USA, others are active in the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Australia, Algeria, Bolivia, Canada, Chili, Cuba, France, India, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Rhodesia, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK and much more, even Sudan and New Caledonia. Many company descriptions span tens of lines, sometimes several pages. As an example, I included the profile of the Parrot Silver and Copper Company:

Parrot Silver and Copper Company
shares of 10 Dollars, issued in 1904, Butte, Montana
printed by Western Banknote Company, Chicago
In the Copper Handbook Vol. III the company
was ranked 25th in the list of largest copper producers.
double-click image to enlarge

PARROT SILVER & COPPER CO. - MONTANA
Mine office: Butte, Silver Bow Co., Montana. Harry A. Galway, superintendent. Has a stock issue of 230,000 shares, bulk of which is held by the Amalgamated Copper Co. This company is mixed up to some extent in the litigation that is so unpleasant a feature of mining operations in Butte. Principal mines are the Little Minah and Parrot, opened circa 1884. Company holds 19 claims in all, mostly well located. A barren zone occurs at a depth of about 1,000' , but good ore bodies are found below. Production is at the rate of about 12,000,000 pounds yearly. The ores carry fair values in silver and gold, as well as copper. Mine employs 300 to 400 men, when working full force. The Little Minah mine has a 1,000' two-compartment shaft connected underground with the Nipper. The Parrot mine is about 1,700' deep, main shaft having 3 compartments to 400' level and 4 compartments below, connected underground with Colusa-Parrot, Never Sweat, Nipper and Original mines.

detail from the Parrot Silver and Copper Company's stock certificate
vignette of a brainy parrot claiming his ingot (I want a parrot like that)

This book is encyclopedic

Do you know the meaning of following terms or expressions? Watch out! I can not pronounce some of these words I. Don't hurt yourself in the act.

• pertenencia: one mineral claim in Mexico; area, one hectare or 2,471 acres
• cutting down: when a shaft is enlarged, work begins at the top, and the work of enlargement is called cutting down
• dognacskaite: a sulphide of bismuth and copper; carrying about 12% copper; from Hungary
• pinching out: the narrowing of a vein to extinction

When was the first copper shipment from the Australian continent ? Answer: 1843

What was the world's largest mine in the early 1900s ? Answer: The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Butte, Montana, producing more than 100,000,000 Pounds in 1901.

Holograms, modern seals on stock certificates

Present technology comes up with 3D vignettes

Old bonds and shares are very rarely seen with holograms embedded in their design. If you do spot them,  then the certificates are probably not older than 20 years. Not surprisingly modern printing technology is needed to produce them.

Golden Eagle International, Inc., a company active in gold mining and copper mining in Boliva
specimen stock certificate for common shares of $0.0001, 1995
printed by Security-Columbian US Bank Note Co., a company part of the ABN group

The word hologram is derived from the Greek words holos, meaning 'whole' and graphos meaning 'description or image'. A hologram shows a whole object in a three dimensional way. When changing your view angle, new details of the object become visible. As you notice in this post, one can scan holograms just like any other vignette. But such attempts only yield a two dimensional image. Instead, a video should give you a better idea. As these so-called embedded holograms can only be seen under specific view angles, capturing these 'volumes' on video can be quiet challenging. 

Short video of the 'Golden Eagle' hologram