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 As such, they act as a window into the past, making them valuable as historical documents.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 Particular care has been exercised to see that it does not become out-of-date when modern warfare breaks out.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

Swastikas for prosperity

Last year's Holabird Americana’s Big Bonanza Auction included a share in the Swastika Mining and Development Company. The item sold for $80. Scripophily magazine no.121 said: “The swastika was said to be a good luck symbol in western Native American culture and it appears on a few certificates”. That’s only a part of the truth.

I wrote this article for Scripophily magazine No 122-August 2023, a publication by IBSS.

Fig. 1 The Swastika Mining and Development Company owned claimes at Lakeview, Idaho, and a lime quarry at Lake Pend Oreille. This share was issued in 1910, and shows two swastikas in the masthead and one in the embossed seal. 

We usually recognize the Swastika symbol as the symbol of Nazis, which we can also find on Nazi era bonds. However it is a much older symbol. In North America, the Tlinglit and the Hopi applied the symbol to decorate objects like baskets up to the 20th century. The Ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Celts, Germanic and Baltic tribes, as well as the Vikings knew about the swastika. The swastika is one of the most common symbols on Mesopotamian coins.

Fig. 2 Detail of the tomb of Bishop William Edington (d. 1366) in Winchester Cathedral. Note the swastika on the vestments of the effigy of Bishop William Edington. Atrribution: Ealdgyth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

The word swastika comes from Sanskrit, the lingua franca in ancient South Asia and generally means ‘beneficial for well-being and prosperity’. The Sanskrit philologist Pāṇini from Ancient India wrote down the word approximately around 500 BC, but the symbol predates even the pyramids of Egypt.

Fig.3 Details of swastikas on Indian shares. Top row, left to right: Kesoram Cotton Mills, Gourepore Co, Scindia Steam Navigation, Bottom row, left to right: Indore Malwa United Mills, Jodhpur Commercial Bank 

The swastika icon has a spiritual significance in Indian religions. Swastikas can be seen on many buildings, statues and in homes in Asia and especially in India. It is an auspicious symbol for Hindus and can be used when starting anything new. The swastika often decorates the opening pages of personal and ledger account books. What follows are some examples in Indian scripophily. I grouped the details in figure 3.

Fig.4 The Indore Malwa United Mills Ltd, Rs100 share, 1949 

Sir Sarupchand Hukumchand was an important opium trader and a pioneer in the cotton Industry of central India. He founded the Indore Malwa United Mills in 1909 at Indore. In the 1950s the company employed about 3,000 textile workers that worked more than 1,400 looms. The underprint of its share shows the Goddess Lakshmi giving lots of coins. A minuscule swastika was incorporated in the border design right below the hoard (Fig. 3 and 4).

Fig.5 The Scindia Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1 share of Rs15, 1948 

The Scindia Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1919 by Walchand Hirachand, Narottam Morarjee, Kilachand Devchand and Lallubhai Samaldas. Back then the sea routes in the British Empire were controlled by British companies. The company's flag ship SS Loyalty was the first Indian owned ship to sail to the United Kingdom. The vignette on the share, Fig. 5, depicts the SS Loyalty. The ship was purchased from Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia of Gwalior. Note the tax duty stamp with swastika.

Fig. 6 The Gourepore Co, Ltd, ordinary shares of Rs100, 1929 

What appears to be a rather plain certificate, the share of the Gourepore Company comes with a surprise feature to the meticulous researcher. This jute mill was registered in 1893. Its factory at Naihati, now part of the Kolkata Metropolitan area, had its own train carrying coal to its power house. The underprint of the certificate, Fig. 6 and 3, consists of a pattern of 2.5 mm² sized swastikas covering most of the surface.

Fig.7 Kesoram Cotton Mills Ld, 100 ordinary shares of Rs10, 1955 

Registered in 1919, the Kesoram Cotton Mills from Calcutta was managed by the Birla brothers. On 16 August 1946, Direct Action Day was announced by the All-India Muslim League leading to large-scale lethal violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta. More than 300 labourers of the Kesoram Cotton Mills were killed. The company’s share certificate from 1955 shows an embossed company seal with swastika (Fig. 7 & 3). The business evolved into today’s industrial group Kesoram Industries Ltd.

Fig.8 Jodhpur Commercial Bank Ltd, ordinary shares of Rs10 paid Rs5, 1946 

The Jodhpur Commercial Bank was established in 1944 in Jodhpur but soon opened branches in Kuchaman, Merta City and Pali, all three in Rajasthan, but also in Nagpur and Bombay. Jodhpur’s impressive Mehrangarth Fort is illustrated on the company’s share certificate, figure 8. Note the swastika in the 100 shares denomination. 

As a symbol of good luck the swastika had a major revival in Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century (that lasted till World War II). Scout groups used the icon on badges, even the US Army’s 45th infantry division used it as a sleeve insignia. Carlsberg has put it on its beer labels. Metal watch fobs in the form of a swastika with Coca-Cola logo are now selling at auctions for hundreds of dollars.

Fig.9 The Ericsson Shipping Co, Ltd, shares of £1, 1915, image courtesy aktien.gutowski.de 

I end this article with a share from the Ericsson Shipping Company. This company from Newcastle-on-Tyne experimented with ships built with a corrugated steel hull. This design increased the longitudinal strength of a ship without any corresponding increase of weight. Its certificate shows a sectional view of a ship’s hull on the left. 

The Ericsson shipping flag consists of a swastika for good luck. However, its SS Monitoria was sunk on 21 Oct 1915 by a U-boat. Their SS Willingtonia, built in 1918, was hit by a torpedo the very same year. So much for good luck.

FL

Previous posts

• The new Scripophily magazine is out! 
• George Bellows's Men of the Docks  

Dhotis not allowed at the Willingdon Sports Club

A victim of its own success, membership to the Royal Willingdon Sports Club is closed. Only children of current members, wealthy ones, can become members, and even that on a selective basis depending on the applicant’s family background and profession.

The private club was founded by Lord Willingdon in 1918. Willingdon (1866-1941) ruled as Governor of the Bombay Presidency from 17 Feb 1913 through 16 Dec 1918. This administrative subdivision of British India, more or less the size of today’s Germany, counted then nearly 30 million people.

A highlight in the Willingdon Sports Club’s existence is the visit in 1921 of Edward VIII, then Prince of Wales. The Prince played four chukkers at polo on the club’s ground. This non-interest bearing irredeemable debenture, issued by the club in 24th Nov 1916, is issued to the Maharaja of Gondal and signed by Sir Stanley Reed as Secretary. 

From the beginning Willingdon maintained good relations with the Indian Princes and India’s important business men. The crème de la crème of British India often met on official events. 

However, on one occasion he invited some friends, Maharajas, to the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. The Governor and his Indian guests were denied access. The club only accepted European members. Willingdon did not agree with the situation and discussed the incident with his friend Stanley Reed.

Sir Herbert Stanley Reed (1872-1969) joined the Bombay based journal The Times of India as correspondent in 1897. When George V, then Prince of Wales, and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, made their royal tour of India in 1905 and 1906, Reed traveled along as special correspondent of the Times of India.

Stanley Reed became the newspaper’s longest serving editor from 1907 until 1924. He maintained close ties with the British political elite. Mahatma Gandhi corresponded with Reed and occasionally paid him a visit at the newspaper office to discuss the questions of the hour. 

Reed was one of the first persons to whom Gandhi revealed his Swadeshi pledge. The Swadeshi movement strived for India to be self-sustainable and self-reliant. Gandhi's swadeshi pledge in 1919 was a pledge to boycott foreign goods.

Stanley Reed improved the coverage of The Times of India and made it ‘the leading paper in Asia’. He is credited with extending the deadline for carrying news from 5 PM to midnight. Earlier, news that came after 5 PM would be kept over for printing the next day. During his tenure the cover price of the paper was reduced from four annas to one, which gave a phenomenal boost to its circulation. 

At the end of World War I, Reed exposed the grievous sufferings of the Indian troops in a newspaper article in which a change in the High Command was argued. Lord Willingdon supported him in that. The latter took responsibility for treating the thousands of wounded that returned from the Mesopotamian campaign by ship to Bombay in appalling circumstances.

Reed and Willingdon discussed the latter’s experiences in the Royal Bombay Yacht Club. It was decided to start a private club that would bring together the best elements of Indian and European society on an equal basis. Lord Willingdon was its President and Stanley Reed became its Honorary Secretary. 

Willingdon found a piece of land in what is now south Mumbai where he established his club. To finance his project, he had to attract funds. 

Stanley Reed writes in his book The India I Knew 1897-1947: “British residents subscribed handsomely, but it was the generosity of the Indian Princes which made realization possible. They contributed not less than £25,000 in non-interest-bearing irredeemable debentures, and asked no more than life membership.” Note that 'irredeemable debentures' are debentures that cannot be redeemed during the lifetime of the company. Investors can only redeem if the company is winding up. 

Freeman Freeman-Thomas & Maria Adelaide Brassey, also known as Lord and Lady Willingdon, 1916. Attribution: Parasnis, Dattatraya Balwant, Rao bahadur, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Lord Willingdon formally opened the club on December 8, 1917. The princes came be-jewelled and robed, the Maharaja of Idar standing out in his gold earrings. Lady Willingdon wore a mauve dress, the colour of the Club’s crest, its curtains and, until 1975, the hue of the waiter’s waistcoats and neckties. In the temporary parking place stood Rolls-Royces, Duesenbergs, Alfa Romeos and other fabulous cars.

Sport amenities were constructed for playing polo, golf, cricket, tennis, badminton, swimming, billiards, poker, and a rifle range as well. The club was not meant to be a sports-only club but also promoted intercultural activities by means of music performances, lectures, ballroom dances, banquets and dinners, etc. Its first name was the Willingdon Club, but Lord Willingdon didn’t like the club’s shortened name. Hence, the Willingdon Sports Club.

The exclusive club attracted maharajas, high government officials, upper rank army officers and India’s top business men. To name a few: the Maharaja of Mysore, the Raja of Ratlam, Sir Dorab Tata, Sir Sassoon David, the Aga Khan, Ibrahim Rahimtoola and then later JRD Tata. Top financier FE Dinshaw was a club’s recurring bridge player.

Lady Willingdon was equally thrilled with the founding club and was the driving force for opening it up for the members’ wives as well. It was said that she got the ruling princes to contribute towards the establishment of the club. One story about her was that she would admire the diamond rings and necklaces that the maharajas used to wear (some even wore them while playing tennis). The recipients of the compliment had no alternative but to present her with the valuables. It is said that soon the maharajas made sure not to wear anything expensive at the club. 

His Highness Maharaja Thakore Shri Sir Bhagwant Singhji Sagramji Sahib Bahadur, Maharaja of Gondal, 1911. Attribution: Photographs from the Lafayette Studio Archive of the V&A, London, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Several Indian princes invested in the Willingdon Sports Club. This certificate shown here was issued for two debentures of 500 Rupees on 24th November 1916 to Bhagvatsinghji, His Highness the Thakore Saheb of Gondal, the ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Gondal (1865-1944). Back then, the Indian princely states were sovereign entities within the British Indian Empire, not directly governed by the British, but by an Indian ruler.

Bhagvatsinghji reformed the administration of his state, provided free and compulsory education for men and women, and made Gondal a tax-free state. The Thakore Saheb was one of the first maharajas to welcome at his residence Gandhi and his wife after their return from South Africa in 1915. The maharaja would meet with Gandhi several times more. On some of these occasions Gandhi deemed it necessary to appeal to the maharaja’s conscience to be a good ruler for the people of Gondal. On the 50th anniversary of his accession to the throne the maharaja gave his weight in gold to charity.

Lord Willingdon also met Gandhi on several occasions. In 1931 he became Viceroy of India for five years. During his reign Gandhi and the Indian National Congress party organized a mass Civil Disobedience Movement. Of course, all of this was covered in Stanley Reed’s Times of India. Eventually Willingdon would imprison Gandhi, the INC members and tens of thousands of Indian activists.

A bouquet for the author, picture taken from Stanley Reed’s book “The India I Knew 1897-1947”.  An expert on Indian current affairs, Reed wrote and compiled several year books such as The Times of India Directory, and The Indian Year Book Including Who's Who. 

I wonder whether Stanley Reed got along with Gandhi. In his more than 260 pages counting memoires The India I Knew 1897-1947, he mainly describes his experiences with British India’s politicians. Though Gandhi made the headlines all those years, Reed dedicated merely five pages to the Mahatma.

I’ll end this article on the Willingdon Sports Club, with an interesting note. In 1954 a post-awards banquet was held at the club to celebrate the first Filmfare awards ceremony. The event was attended by actor Gregory Peck. One of the award winners, influential director Bimal Roy, was denied entry into the club because he was dressed in a dhoti, a type of sarong, fastened in between the legs in a manner that it outwardly resembles trousers. The most photographed person in the world wearing a dhoti must be Gandhi. He was never invited to the Willingdon Sport Club. 

F.L. 

This article was originally written for Scripophily magazine No 122-August 2023, a publication by IBSS.

References

• A commemorative Volume to mark the sixtieth year of the Willingdon Sports Club Bombay 1917-1977, by Behram Contractor, Naval J. Ardeshir 
• His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales Tour In India (1921-1922), by O’mealey M
• The India I knew 1897-1947, by Stanley Reed 
• The TOI Story, by Sangita P. Menon Malhan [ed.: about The Times Of India] 
• The Royal Tour in India - A Record of the Tour of T.R.H. The Prince and Princess of Wales in India and Burma, from November 1905 to March 1906, by Stanley Reed. The book has been digitized by Google and is available to the public here 

Previous posts

• IBSS surprises members with full publications of Drumm & Henseler scripophily catalogues 
• The most expensive share sold at auction in 2021 

Madras Gymkhana hosted scripophily talk

Are you curious about Indian scripophily ? Well, this could be an interesting tip for you.

On July 2, 2023, the Cultural Hub of the Madras Gymkhana Club hosted a scripophily talk. The speaker was Chennai-based Mr Sayeed Cassim who was interviewed by Mr Amarnath from MD Paterson Securities. 

Mr Amarnath, Mr Sayeed Cassim and the team of the cultural subcommittee of the Madras Gymkhana Club that organized the talk and presentation. The event was recorded and is available on YouTube.  

When it comes to Indian scripophily, you can't miss the many, often charming, antique securities. 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.  Here's an example from the Minerva Mills Limited.

This Minerva Mills Ltd share was issued on Oct 4, 1920, to Devidas Jekisondas Desai. The certificate represents a share of Rs.100, 20 Rs. been paid up. It features an embossed company seal and a one anna tax stamp in the lower and upper right corners, resp. 

In this event Mr Sayeed Cassim presents antique share and bond certificates issued during India's pre-independence era from companies like the Imperial Bank of India and the Madras Railway Company. Some of the early certificates are printed on vellum and linen. Other scrip on display are beautiful examples of India's unique style of securities. 

The recording of the talk and presentation takes almost an hour. In the beginning the sound quality is not optimal but I encourage you to continue watching, explore and enjoy. 

Well done, Mr Sayeed Cassim, and thank you for supporting the hobby!

F.L. 

The image tricks your eyes

Since the 1900s Indian security printers developed their own lettering styles and ornaments. Distinguishing themselves from the British design tradition, their work resulted in a unique range of bond and share certificates.

Here is an example from The Ahmedabad New Textile Mills Co. Ltd: a one 4% (Free of Income Tax) Redeemable Cumulative Second Preference Share of Rs.50, issued on 1 March 1947.  

The Ahmedabad New Textile Mills Co. Ltd was established in 1916 by Jivanlal Girdharlal. In 1923 the neighbouring Zaveri Spinning and Weaving Mills was taken over. ANTM produced saris, dhotis, voile and the like. After World War II it had more than 900 looms and provided work to 2,000 employees. 

Have a look at the circular geometric pattern in the upper left corner of the share certificate. In that figure, the middle circle is formed by a black line. 

Can you notice that the first word of the company name, namely 'The', blends in perfectly? The circle's black line changes into the color blue and connects at the same time with the blue outline of the black T character. 

The image tricks your eyes. We still see a full circle. But take away the T-letter, and the circle is broken. Remove the circle and the T is incomplete. Great, isn't it.

F.L.

Previous posts

• "Auction Explosion!" says Scripophily magazine 
• The most expensive share sold at auction in 2021 

The most expensive share sold at auction in 2021

In its last Summer edition, Scripophily magazine lists the top 25 scripophily auction lots from 2021. Ranked on number one is a share from the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. It was issued as early as 1665.

This Compagnie des Indes Orientales share was offered at auction in Antwerp by Booneshares on 16 October 2021. Starting at €44,000 it rose to €120,000. 

image courtesy Booneshares 

It was the French minister of finance, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who founded in 1664 the Compagnie des Indes Orientales with authorization of Sun King Louis XIV.  The purpose of the company: to compete against the English and Dutch colonial trading companies.

The company was granted a 50-year monopoly of French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan, with a concession in perpetuity for Madagascar and ‘all other islands and lands it could conquer’. The company also had to build churches and train priests in its territories.

This certificate was issued in 1665, an eventful year:  the Second Anglo-Dutch War begins, King Charles II of England leaves London fleeing the Great Plague, the Qing invasion of Taiwan fails due to a typhoon, and the Compagnie des Indes Orientales sends twenty settlers to start the colonisation of Réunion.

The blazon of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales includes the Latin phrase Florebo quocumque ferar. Meaning 'I will flourish wherever I go' it became the motto of Réunion Island. 

source: Frank Schulenburg, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons  

The company had interests all around the coasts of Africa, Madagascar, Réunion, the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula and India, as well as islands in Southeast Asia, even China and Japan. Several ‘comptoirs’ were established in various parts of India such as Puducherry and Chandannagar. Especially Indian cotton was in demand on the French market.

In 1720 the Indes Orientales merged with John Law's Compagnie d'Occident to form the Compagnie des Indes.

The certificate is the oldest French share known today, as well as the oldest one from a company active on the Peninsula of India. It is also the oldest share ever offered at any auction world wide. 

The share was printed as a standardized form and issued for 6000 French Livres, 2000 Livres been paid. Its features include transfers of ownership, hence it was tradeable and transferable. 

Only two other certificates like this one are known to have survived. Being one of the top items at the Swiss Finance Museum, this is the only one that is on display for the public.

Bidding started at €44,000. The hammer fell at €120,000 and that's without buyer's premium.

F.L.

Further references

• International Bond and Share Society (IBSS), publisher of Scripophily magazine 
• The Compagnie des Indes, by Howard Shakespeare, Journal of the IBSS, Feb 1997 
• Swiss Finance Museum on the Compagnie des Indes Orientales 

Previous posts

• Banks in Transition : From Counters to Apps 
• The smallest company in terms of equity capital, is it ? 

Over 1500 lots of historic securities go on the block in FHW's upcoming sale, including an amazing share from Frederick the Great's Chinese trading company !

Freunde Historischer Wertpapiere (FHW) has scheduled its next sale for October 8, 2022. This time the auctioneer selected more than 1500 lots of historic bonds and share certificates. Major sections have been reserved for scripophily from Germany, the German DM era, USA and a series of more than 200 lots from other countries worldwide.

One of the highlights in the sale is this share in the Hippodrom-A.-G. Frankfurt am Main. The company was founded in 1897. Its main building was used to promote equestrian sports in public events and festivities and had the largest indoor riding arena of Germany. Allied bombing destroyed the hippodrome during WW II. Reportedly only four of these shares were discovered in the 1980s. L(ot) 756 in the auction is expected to realize €2,800. 

The German chapter presents over 750 lots from the pre-DM period and covers all regions and branches. A dedicated Deutschland Top 20 section, lot range 748-767, bundles the high-end items.  The auction also includes the Klaus H Reifenrath Collection consisting of 69 rare Kux and mining shares from the Siegerländer Erzrevier mining area.

The auction includes several shares designed in Art Deco. This one, issued in 1922 by the Mechanische Buntweberei J. Sim. Fleißner Aktiengesellschaft, a textile company from Münchberg, illustrates one of the company's modern fabric designs. L730 starts at €100. 

All lots are well-illustrated with high quality images on the Invaluable online platform. However, the Top 20 section includes even more in-depth information with extra illustrations in the catalog's PDF version (links see further below). 

Some examples from the German chapter  :

• The Central-Afrikanische Seeen-Gesellschaft operated gold mines and saltworks in the African Great Lakes region, then part of German East Africa. Seeen is German for lakes. This 1000 mark share was issued in Hamburg, 1902 and starts at €900, L384.
• The 1855 share from the Steinkohlenbau-Verein zu Rochlitz, a coal mine company, shows the city of Rochlitz, gnomes at work and an explosion in their mine, mined rock with imprints of fossilized plants and lots more. Extremely rare, this is in my opinion the most awesome German share certificate. L763, a top item, starts at €9,000.
• L926 starts at €320. The share from the Sundwiger Eisenhütte Maschinenbau-Actiengesellschaft displays a lovely Jugendstil design.

Time to highlight the absolute top item in the auction.

Four years after Frederick the Great became King in Prussia he annexed in 1744 the independent city-state of Embden (Emden), then the most important trade port on the North Sea. Eager to give Prussia a share of the Asian trade similar to the V.O.C. or the British East India Co., Frederick the Great granted the privilige in 1751 to found the Emden Trading Company. 

The company, also known as the Königlich Preußische Asiatische Compagnie in Embden nach Canton und China (Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China) was allowed to conclude contracts with foreign Asian rulers in the name of the King of Prussia. The Emden company owned four ships that made six voyages to Canton bringing back tea, porcelain and other goods. 

The company operated independently - the king's main interest was filling the Prussian (war) treasury - and became the first modern German stock corporation, i.e. without state influence.

The share, L760 in the auction, issued in 1752 for 500 Reichsthaler in Friderichs d'Or is the oldest German share known. 

It is also the oldest share in the German language. A complete translation of the text on the obverse, as well as a hint on its non-German provenance, can be found in the latest issue of Scripophily magazine, No. 119 August 2022. 

The clipping shown here says [..the Company's ships which shall sail] to Canton in China as well as other places in India .. . The document must be the oldest known share mentioning the word China as well. Start price €50,000.

The sale's Deutsche Mark section comprises of more than 230 lots, including a Top 20 chapter. To mention a few : L1146 is a 20 shares certificate in the Erste Kulmbacher Actienbrauerei AG (EKU), 1990, showing the company's logo with crown and prize medals, €75; L1249 Teutoburger Wald-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, Hamburg, 1951, unissued share, starts at €200. 

The Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft and the Rheinischen Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG merged in 1942 into the Aachener Strassenbahn und Energieversorgungs-AG (ASEAG). The company provided local public transport in the Aachen city region. During the Battle of Aachen, 1944, Allied troops used tramcars loaded with explosives and ammunition as rolling bombs on the sloping routes from Siegel and Grundhaus to the city center, which, however, caused little damage. This share, from 1954, shows a high voltage power pole and tram car in the underprint. Bids for L1088 are welcome from €40 onwards. 

The USA section features more than 200 lots. Here are some interesting examples to look for:

• L1429 is stock certificate in the Lamb's Run Oil Company coming from an old collection. Printed by Chandler from Philadelphia, 1865, it shows two vignettes of early oil derricks. The company was incorporated in Venango County, Pennsylvania where the biggest oilboom sparked only a few years earlier. €100
• Confederate States of America, 8% $100 bond from 1862, large vignette of the city of Richmond and portrait of C. G. Memminger, L1378, €300
• €380 may buy you a Laramie, Hahns Peak and Pacific Railway Company 100 common shares certificate issued in 1912. The company was incorporated in Wyoming. The shares of this company are illustrated with 3 vignettes of a locomotive, lumberjacks and miners at work, Cox cat nr LAR-083-S-51. L1430

This share from the Compañia Ron Bacardi can be found in the sale's Ausland section (foreign countries). The company was founded in 1862 in Cuba and became worldwide known for its white rum and derived cocktails such as the Cuba Libre and the Daiquiri. The share depicts bats, the company logo, a bottle of Bacardi rum and many of its prize medals won at contests. It is issued to Emilio Bacardi y Rossell, great grandchild of Facundo Bacardi Massó, founder of Bacardi, and grandchild of Emilio Bacardi Lay, mayor of Santiago de Cuba. Note that the certificate was issued in 1955 during the Cuban Revolution. The Bacardi family left the country in 1960 after the government confiscated the company's assets in 1960. L102 starts at €150. 

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

• Date : 8 October, 2022
• Location : Wolfenbüttel 
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/  

F.L.

PS : Did you like this post ? Thank you for sharing it on you favorite social media channel !

HWPH auctions Friedrich Wilhelm III scripophily, a VOC bond from the Dutch Golden Age and nearly 2000 lots of historic stock certificates.

Historisches Wertpapierhaus AG (HWPH) scheduled its next double-session sale for 3 and 4 September 2022. For this occasion specialist Matthias Schmitt and his team brought together some 2,000 lots of scripophily and related documents . 

Included are several top-notch items such as a unique share from the Preussische See-Assecuranz-Compagnie issued to King Frederick William III of Prussia and one of the oldest securities from the mother of all joint stock companies, a Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie bond from 1623. 

L(ot) 568 in the auction is this wonderful share from the Actien-Verein für den zoologischen Garten zu Dresden. The Dresden Zoo opened in 1861 and was bombed in World War II by the Allies. Reopened in 1946 it now welcomes about 1 million visitors per year. This 50 thaler share from 1863 starts at €1800. 

The first leg of the auction is both a live and an online event and takes place in Zorneding, near Munich. The second part is an online only sale and happens the next day. 

A major part of the offerings consists of antique bonds and shares from Germany, spread over several sections in both parts of the event. Among several German highlights you'll find these two :

• A radical democratic anti-monarchist, Gustave Struve's Gesellschaft deutscher Republikaner tried to finance the German revolutions of 1848-1849 with the issue of bonds. L515 is one of these rare certificates. Illustrated with several allegorical vignettes, it is propably the earliest known scripophily showing the colors of Germany's flag.
• AEG, worldwide known today for its eponymous home appliances brand, originated as the Deutsche Edison-Gesellschaft für angewandte Elektrizität. The auction features a 1883 share from this company, L538. The company changed its name change into Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. L539 is a share, 1887, from the first issue using the new name. Both are extremely rare. 

Perhaps the most spectacular object in HWPH's auction is this share in the Preussische See-Assecuranz-Compagnie. The company provided insurances against sea and fire risks and was organized in Szczecin, Poland, then capital of the Prussian Provence of Pomerania. The share shows a three-master with the flag of Prussia (click image) and is issued in 1825 to Frederick William III King of Prussia (1797-1840). He joined the coalition against Napoleon, and unified the Protestant churches in Prussia. Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II are two of his grandchildren. L546, a unique historic document from Germany's and Poland's prehistory, is expected to realize €25,000 

The sale includes many more lots from all over the world. The auction's online catalog allows searching for your interests by means of country as well as thematic indexes. I tried out Luftfahrt (aviation) which refered to several airline companies : 

• Linhas Aereas Paulistas S.A. (LAP), Brazil map vignette, L68
• Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, L69, La Paz, aircraft vignette
• Badisch-Pfälzische Luft-Hansa A.G. Mannheim, L221
• Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, L734
• Japan Air Lines Company, Ltd., L770 and L771

Founded as Pan American Airways in 1927, Pan Am became the largest international airline of the USA in the 20th century. Its advertisements and so-called "Clippper" airplanes featured in movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Live and Let Die, Blade Runner and Catch Me If You Can. The company ceased operations in 1991 and reincarnated several times. The Pan Am Corporation owned and controlled the airline and services division. This share was issued in 1998 to scripophily pioneer Wilhelm H. Kuhlmann. Bidding on L1761 starts at €50  

There is plenty to discover in HWPH's auction catalogs. The live auction concludes with a meeting for EDHAC members. Here are the details of the event:

• Dates
• 3 September 2022, Zorneding, Germany, public auction
• 4 September 2022, online auction
• Further info and catalogs, see here on HWPH. 
• Live bidding is possible through Invaluable.com, see here, where you can find high quality images of the lots.

Collectors of 18th century scripophily, and even older items, will find more than 50 entries in their category. The most iconic lot is a 1623 bond for 1000 Flemish Pounds from the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (V.O.C.), aka Oost-Indische Compagnie aka Dutch East India Company.  Securities from this historic company are extremely rare and considered the crème de la crème in our field. Why can be read on this blog here. In 2019 HWPH auctioned a similar bond, issued for 500 Flemish Pounds, at €46,000 without buyer's premium. L500 starts at €40,000. 

F.L.

Did you like this post ? Thank you for sharing it on you favorite social media channel !

The Compagnie des Indes Orientales : Boone reveals the oldest share ever auctioned in upcoming international collectors event

Mario Boone is a major player in the field of antique share certificates and financial documents. The auctioneer scheduled his 67th scripophily auction and bourse on 16 and 17 October 2021. On the agenda are about 1400 scripophily lots that will go on the block in Antwerp.

Boone succeeded in compiling exceptional rare and beautiful stocks and bonds from all continents, such as the oldest share to be auctioned, the oldest French railway share, a share purchased by Nobel prize laureate Max Planck, and many more amazing historic securities like this one.

Prior to the late 1890s color photography was the domain of a small number of researchers that build their own equipment. This share from 1897 is signed by the Belgian color photography pioneer Louis Ernest Dugardin who invented one of the first commercially available color cameras in the world. He founded in 1897 the Paris based Société Nationale de la Photographie des Couleurs et de Reproductions Artistiques Procédés L. Dugardin. This share was designed by the French Belle Epoque artist Lucien Métivet and printed by Imprimerie G. Richard. An amazing document, L(ot) 557 in the sale starts at €2000.

I'll point of out some more highlights of the sale in a moment, but first I'll say something about the bulky auction catalog that counts over 200 pages of data and images. Auction lots are grouped first by region, then by country. The main index lists over 90 countries. Large sections include Belgium, France, Russia, Germany, USA, Spain, Egypt, China, Great Britain and Italy. Collectors of scripophily from seldom-seen places like Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Ghana, Monaco, Martinique, etc, will be surprised by what's going under the hamer.

The Monte Toro Fábrica de Quesos operated on the island of Menorca. This share shows scenes from the town of Es Mercadal at the foot of the Monto Toro, the highest point on the island, a woman making cheese, and grazing cows. The certificate was printed in 1901 in Barcelona by Imp. Luis Tasso. L1075 in the auction, bids accepted from €100 onwards. 

So, what about the top item of the sale ? Well, it's a share from the Compagnie des Indes Orientales issued more than 350 years ago in 1665. That was an eventful year :  the Second Anglo-Dutch War begins, King Charles II of England leaves London fleeing the Great Plague, the Qing invasion of Taiwan fails due to a typhoon, and the Compagnie des Indes Orientales sends twenty settlers to start the colonisation of Réunion.

 

The Compagnie des Indes Orientales was founded by Jean-Baptiste Colbert on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English and Dutch colonial trading companies. The company was granted a 50-year monopoly of French trade in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Cape of Good Hope to the Straits of Magellan, with a concession in perpetuity for Madagascar and ‘all other islands and lands it could conquer’ (*).  The company also had to build churches and train priests in its territories. Several ‘comptoirs’ were established in various parts of India such as Puducherry and Chandannagar. 

This share of 6000 French Livres, 2000 Livres been paid, unique and of great historic importance, is the earliest share ever auctioned. Bids for L467 start at €44,000 

(*) The Compagnie des Indes, by Howard Shakespeare, Journal of the IBSS, Feb 1997 

At the end of the printed catalog, you'll find a list with over 100 indexes on themes, Belgian provinces, famous signatures, artists and printing companies. On top of that you can search through the online version with keywords.

There is nothing as fascinating as antique securities produced in gold print. A search through the digital catalog on keywords like "gold print", "printed in gold" and "gold, black" (co-occuring colors), yield some great results. You should see these. I've listed them by start price in ascending order : 

• €30, L440 Basilique de Sainte Thérèse de l'Enfant-Jésus à Lisieux, 1933, Lisieux, Calvados
• €40, L1173 The Port Rowan and Lake Shore Railway Company, 1880s, Port Dover, Ontario
• €80, L702 Cooperative des Médecins et Pharmaciens de Grèce, 1924, Athens (see image below)
• €200, L230 Szegedi Kereskedelmi es Iparbank, 1909, Szegeden, Hungary
• €200, L524 Compagnie L'Union Service par Bateaux à Vapeur et Autres, 1840, Rouen, France
• €1000, L459 Casino et Concerts Paganini, 1837, Paris
• €1200, L1274 The Gold Mining Company, 1888, registered in West Virginia, mines at Mojave County, Arizona
• €2000, L758 Barkschip: Grootmeester Nationaal, 1857, Dordrecht
• €2000, L1169 Great Cariboo Gold Company, 1905, New York, but operations in British Columbia, Canada

L702 is a wonderful 5 shares certificate in the Cooperative des Médecins et Pharmaciens de Grèce. Issued in 1924, Athens, and produced in gold print. 

Boone auctions always include scripophily related to that little country somewhere near the center of Europe, Belgium (about 220 lots). Here are some interesting lots from that chapter in the sale :

• L234 Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt, a Dutch share from 1825 to finance a new canal between Pommeroeul and Antoing (Hainaut province) 
• L241 the oldest certificate seen, a bond, from A.C.E.C., and highly decorative too
• L245 Société Européenne d'Automobiles, 1898, far ahead of its time targeting the European market, rare and prehistoric automobile manufacturer 

I didn't know that Belgium once tried to colonize Guatemala, did you ? Here's a share, L292, in the Compagnie Belge de Colonisation, Communauté de l'Union, issued in 1844. The company was founded with the help of King Leopold I of Belgium to administer Santo-Thomas de Guatemala, today known as Santo Tomàs de Castilla, Puerto Barrios. Leopold's goal was not only to exploit rich natural resources, but also to reduce crime in Belgium by sending the unemployed, the underprivileged and adventurers to the "promised land of Verapaz".  Many colonists died in the harsh conditions and the project was given up after 20 years. A rare object of Belgian international history, bidding starts at €200.

There is a lot more to discover in the auction. I almost forgot, if you are into Russian scripophily, then don't forget to check out that chapter as well. It includes interesting railway certificates but also a large section of Russian banking and credit securities. 

Before giving you further details and links for the event, I'll end this post with an incredibly beautifully produced work. Extremely rare and of historic economic importance, L451 is a share in the Chemin de Fer de Paris à St. Cloud et Versailles - Rive Droite de la Seine, the oldest French steam-powered railway. The share dates from 1837 and is signed by politician and financier Emile Pereire.

The auction catalog fully describes the history of this French railway company, the Chemin de Fer de Paris à St. Cloud et Versailles. Click the image above and below to see more details of this wonderful print. In the detail below, you see two angels below a column. They present the coat of arms of Paris. Above and at the left of the figures you can detect two light grey rosettes. All those details are produced in such a way that it gives the viewer a feeling of depth just like the raised relief on a medal. But that is only an optical illusion. In fact, the only color used for this print is black. The certificate's design was created by the best engraver of its time, Jacques-Jean Barre, who designed and engraved the first postage stamps of France. He was master engraver at the Monnaie de Paris producing designs for coins and medals. Absolutely stunning. Start price of L451 is €12,000.

Even if you are not a collector the weekend of 16 and/or 17 October is an opportunity to see some great antique securities. As for me, I am looking forward to meet again collector friends that I haven't seen for a long time. Here are the details :

• Location : Antwerp, Belgium
• Dates
• 16 October 2021, Boone's 67th live and internet auction
• 17 October 2021, bourse of historic bonds and shares
• Further info : 
• online catalog & bidding, see here 
• or via the Invaluable platform (large images), see there 
• and the PDF version of the catalog can be found here 

F.L.

PS : Did you like this post ? I'd love to see you sharing it on your favorite social media channel !