Showcasing your services: The Hindusthan Safe Deposit Company

Old stock certificates often illustrate the purpose or type of business a company was in. As such, they act as a window into the past, making them valuable as historical documents. 

Here's a nice example from The Hindusthan Safe Deposit Company. It features two vignettes each depicting a vault with a map of British India in the background.

The Hindusthan Safe Deposit Company Limited, Karachi 

stock certificate for 10 ordinary shares of 10 Rupees (5 Rupees paid) 

This Hindusthan Safe Deposit Company share was issued to Hormusjee Ardeshir Mistri on the 2nd of April 1937 in Karachi. Now the capital city of the Pakistani province of Sindh, Karachi was then part of British India. 

The company, incorporated in 1936, was managed by reputable businessmen like Homi Mehta, A. D. Shroff, and Messrs Doongursee & Sons. It provided safe deposit services and had its building on the McLeod Road in Karachi, today known as the I. I. Chundrigar Road.

The company's building and vault were designed by K. T. Divecha, an architect from Mumbai “on the most modern lines and provide up-to-date amenities. The vault is one of the strongest in India and was impregnable by the most skilled and persistent attacks of the scientific burglar. Particular care has been exercised to see that it does not become out-of-date when modern warfare breaks out. Local authorities have certified it as well designed to resist damages from bombs.”

The vault had a capacity of 5,000 lockers with a spacious and well-furnished waiting room provided for the clients. The basement was air-conditioned in order to give better protection to deposits against deterioration due to moisture. Apparently, the architect was forethoughtful about us scripophilists.

The certificate has a beautiful embossed seal showing a vault. 

(image taken from the reverse)  

The certificate has two vignettes, quite alike, depicting a robust vault door on a map of Hindhustan, commonly spelled as Hindustan or Hindostan. During the British Raj, which extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar, the term Hindusthan referred to the whole of the Indian subcontinent. 

Note that the company was organized in 1936. Though partly shown on the map illustrated in the vignettes, Burma (now Myanmar) became a separated colony of Britain on 1 April 1937, just the day before this certificate was issued.

F.L.

This post is based on my article for Scripophily magazine No 127-April 2025, a publication by IBSS. 

References: “The Colourful Personalities of Sind,”, M. U. Abbassi, 1944

POSTPONED : Kolkata displays historic share certificates from India

THE FOLLOWING KOLKATA EXHIBTION IS POSTPONED DUE TO THE CORONA OUTBREAK

On 4 and 5 April, 2020, you can visit "Indian Scripophily 2020", a unique exhibition on antique securities from India. The event takes place at the Nand Lal Bose Gallery, Kolkata.

SCRIPOPHILY is the study and collection of antique bond and share certificates. A specialized field of numismatics, scripophily is an area of collecting due to both the beauty of these documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document. Many certificates are outstanding examples of intaglio and lithographic printing.

The event is hosted at the Rabindranath Tagore Centre in Kolkata, which is the cultural flagship of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).  India's first Minister of Education, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, founded in 1950 the ICCR for promoting dialogue with other nations showcasing the diverse and rich cultural tradition of India.

Place to be is the centre's 3rd floor, the Nand Lal Bose Gallery. The gallery, occupying nearly 400 sq m, has housed exhibitions like 'The Lost Palaces of Delhi', with 18th century paintings by Jean Bapiste Gentil, and a photographic exhibition of film-maker, art historian and photographer Binoy K. Behl. 

One of the artefacts on display is a share from the Imperial Bank of India, today known as the State Bank of India. Legendary economist John Maynard Keynes conceived the idea for a large, regulating bank in India. In 1921 Keynes led the merger of the three Presidency banks, the Bank of Bengal, the Bank of Madras and the Bank of Bombay, into a single bank, the Imperial Bank of India. The bank was 80% privately owned and acted as the central bank of British India prior to the formation in 1935 of the Reserve Bank of India. Click image to enlarge 

Indian Scripophily 2020 is a joint initiative by experts Sanjay Misra and Ravi Sevak. The exhibition presents nearly 300 Indian share certificates from the pre-independence period. It is an excellent opportunity to learn about the many industrial and commercial ventures set up during the British Raj. 

Here's is another example from the exhibit, a share from the Burma Corporation Ltd. First attracted as a mining consultant, the American engineer Herbert Hoover becomes in 1908 director of Burma Mines. Shortly thereafter, the mines at Namtu are absorbed by the Burma Corporation, a business cofounded by Hoover. The company lucratively extracts lead, zinc, copper and silver. After WW I, Hoover starts a career in politics and becomes President of the USA from March 4, 1929 till March 4, 1933. He visits India in April 1946 as Chairman of the US Famine Emergency Commission, and meets Gandhi and Nehru to discuss the problem of famine in the wake of World War II. 

The exhibition also illustrates the evolution of security printing in India. In the 19th century the creation of securities, mostly for British companies, was done in England and followed a British design tradition. Since the 1900s Indian printers developed their own lettering styles and ornaments, resulting in a unique range of bond and share certificates.

Practical info 

• Location : Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Rabindranath Tagore Centre, Nand Lal Bose Gallery, 9 A Ho Chi Minh Sarani, Kolkata 700 701, see here 
• Duration : 4 - 5 April 2020 
• Opening hours : 11 AM to 7 PM
• Entrance fee : no entrance fee

F.L. 

Seal stories

When examining a new certificate I always look for the presence of a seal. I hope a remarkable scenery will be present on it. Some of these seals are so striking that they can not possibly be overlooked at. Others, the embossed ones, are hardly noticeable but can just be as surprising as well.

(tip: double-click the images for more details)

Gold paper seal, embossed after being attached to the document

Texas Short Line Railway Company, 1902

In the Middle Ages, seals were made on bee wax. They were used for guaranteeing authenticity of documents and for sealing closed documents. On shares and bonds, seals are also used for authentication. More, the presence of a beautifull gold paper seal, serving as a quality label, helped issuers to attract potential buyers. Seals were also meant to make it more difficult to counterfeit a certificate. Sometimes, they were also used as proof that obligatory taxes were paid.

Seals on certificates can show the name of the issuer, a pictorial emblem representing the issuer such as a coat of arms, an incorporation date, or a picture of the kind of activity that was involved.

Seal integrated in the print design

RCA Corporation (specimen) 1977