HWPH kicks off '21 with large scripophily auction

Auctioneer Matthias Schmitt has compiled pretty much as 2000 lots of mainly antique bonds and shares for his 58th sale. The online event runs till 30 January, 10 AM. 

Collectors seek these genuine securities for their historic values or artistic features. I'll show you an Italian example from the auction of the first type later, but to start with, here is one of the latter type.

The SA Italiana per l'Impianto e l'Esercizio del Giardino Zoologico in Roma was founded in 1909. Today it is known as Bioparco di Roma. Its shares feature a gorgious vignette of wild animals, and sixteen others interacting with exuberant scrollwork and foliage. Click the image to enlarge. Creator of this Stile Liberty work was Giambattista Conti, aka Giovanni Battista Conti (1878-1970). He was known for his religious works and as an illustrator of children books. He became Director of the Vatican Restoration Institute. This rare certificate for 10 founders' share , lot 773 in the auction, starts at €1,000. 

HWPH is known for its Russian offerings and starts the feast with more than 250 lots from Russia and the former USSR. Two examples : 

• L(ot)116 A 5-shares certificate, 1898, from the Rigaer Commerz-Bank, unusual large underprint  the imperial double-headed eagle holding the arms of the city of Riga, then still part of the Russian Empire.
• A specimen bond from the Soviet Union's 1925 Internal Loan for the Reconstruction of the Economy, multicoloured Art Nouveau design, three vignettess, L151.

One of the Russian highlights is L154, a specimen bond from the 9% railway loan of 1927. The loan was issued to finance railway extensions connecting Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan with the Trans-Siberian Railway. The bond has a denomination of 25 Chervonets, a currency, fully convertible and backed by the gold standard, that was introduced by the Soviet Union to stabilize the hyperinflation. 

A major part of the sale consists of scripophily items related to Germany. Actually there are 700 of them. These can easily be queried online by means of key words like 'Freiburg', yielding 3 results, or 'Leipzig', 16 results. 

Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft, AEG, originated in 1882 when Emil Rathenau acquired licenses to use some of Thomas Edison's lamp patents in Germany. This extremely rare share from 1890, L917, bears Rathenau's facsimile signature. L918, a share in another Berlin company, has Rathenau's original signature. Rathenau died in 1915 when AEG pioneered in the development of aircraft and soon thereafter in film projectors as well. 

Nearly 300 lots represent scripophily from the USA, some picks :

• L1714 shows a share number 1 in The Magirus Corporation of America, issued in 1926, and with vignette of a fire engine. Conrad Dietrich Magirus, born in Ulm, Germany, was the inventor of the mobile fire ladder. Today, the Magirus M68L is the fire engine with the highest turntable ladder in the world with a range of 68 meters.
• The Los Angeles, San Diego and Yuma Railway Company, 1890 stock certificate, L1711, rare
• The tracks of the Virginia and Tennessee Rail Road, a company that played a strategic role for the Confederacy, were destroyed during the American Civil War and later rebuilt. Its $1000 bond from 1853, shows off some of the finest vignettes on US railway securities. L1801, interesting start price at €40.
• A section of 27 Confederate States of America bonds with start prices at €20 to €40, L1618 through 1644

The auction counts no less than eight 'piano' lots : 563, 1023, 1139, 1213, 1567, 1578, 1773 and 1886. This share in the Schomacker Piano Forte Manufacturing Company was issued in 1894. Pianists and high society figures like President Ulysses S. Grant preferred these fine and award-winning instruments. Schomacker pianos were called the “Gold String” pianos. H. W. Gray, who signed this share as President, patented a technique wherein the piano strings were gold plated through a process called electro-plating. The other signature we see here is the one of Henry C. Schomacker, son of Johan Heinrich Schomacker, founder of the business. L1773 

The offerings present bonds and shares from many more countries. Let me further mention some more noteworthy collectibles :

• UK : One of the oldest Cunard Steam-Ship Company shares seen, 1888, with ship vignette, L532
• Italy : Gucci Group NV, Dutch Gulden specimen stock certificate , vignettes of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence, and Gucci craftsman inspecting a Gucci handbag, L598
• Czechoslovakia : L727, Prvni Pražský Měštanský Pivovor, freely translated : The First Prague Civic Brewery, 1930, multicolor print with brewing vignetttes and of course, a drinking King
• The sale includes a nice selection of Egyptian scripophily.

The Monte di Pietà, a church-run lending institution founded in Italy's 15th century, became a model for many charity institutions. Called “Monte’s” these organizations obtained their funds by means of bonds called “Luoghi di Monte” and evolved into banks and lending institutions. The bonds were registered, and guaranteed the investor a type of life annuity. This Monte non vacabile del Sale della Città di Firenze was issued as early as 1699! The loan was guaranteed by income from taxes on salt (Sale) and bears the arms of the House of Medici. L895 

Of course, there is much more to tell, but the best way is to see for yourself. Here are the auction details:

• Date : 30 Januari 2021, 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.

F.L.

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Puzzling scripophily - No. 2 - solution

In order to resolve Scripophily Puzzle No. 2 you could use three visual cues that pointed to a particular company. This puzzle was a bit tougher than no. 1, yet, one reader provided a correct answer. 

The visual cues were details from the design of a share in the company that we are looking for. The first two images feature signatures. The third image shows a text fragment in some language, printed on top of a drawing.

In general, antique securities from companies were signed by directors of the company. This is no exception. Signatures of some famous persons like Thomas A. Edison are easy to derive. Here, we have less readable examples. 

If you've read this recent blogpost, then you could have recognized the signature of the Swedish industrialist Sven Wingqvist, founder of SKF.  This is the first clue.

There is one image with a fragment of the lettering on the certificate. It mentions 'ETT HUNDRA Kronor'. Ett Hundra is Swedish for one hundred, and refers in this case to 100 Swedish Krona, the denomination of the certificate.

So Sweden is a keyword in this puzzle. You may guess that the other signature comes from another Swedish person. Correct. It belongs to Swedish banker and Olympic tennis player Marcus Wallenberg Jr. 

You didn't resolved the last signature ? Well, that's no showstopper. The 'ETT HUNDRA Kronor' image shows a front profile of a propeller plane in the underprint. Googling the three words aviation, Sweden and Wingqvist will lead you to the solution : Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget (Swedish Airplane Company), aka SAAB.

SAAB was founded in 1937 by Sven Wingqvist, Marcus Wallenberg Jr and Axel Wenner-Gren. The latter established Electrolux. 

Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget

1 share of 100 Kronor, 1944

SAAB, an aircraft and defence business, was the parent company of automobile manufacturer Saab Automobile. The profile in the underprint of its share shows a twin-engine military plane built during WW II, the SAAB 18. The company pioneered in 1971 with a self-developed computer for its Viggen combat aircraft. 

Reader "detective" DB provided the correct answer for puzzle no. 1 and also for this puzzle. Outstanding DB! You are now entitled a second portion of "eternal fame". 

Happy New Year !

F.L. 

Kawasaki in the year 2889

We are in the year 2889. By then, all objects in museums are virtualized. People can download a perfect but scaled copy of any thinkable museum object and have it rendered in their living room as a tangible three-dimensional image. The objects that are speaking volumes are the ones the general public like the most. And you? Well, you are an archaeologist specialized in 20th century financial artefacts.

That day you are excavating a chamber at an ancient site which seems to be an office building from the 1960s. Yes, that is funny, back then people used to assemble all day long in a dedicated building to do office work. Anyway, the chamber you are working on, contains a safe weighing about 100 pounds. Your hand-scanner tells you there are documents inside the safe. With your tools, you manage to open it in no time. Wow, the parcel inside contains a set of old stock certificates. In the 20th century, people printed shares on paper for representing ownership in companies. Most of these certificates perished. One of the shares stands out from the others. It is speaking volumes.

With a PhD in Ancient Oriental Languages and Cultures, you translate the long line of characters on top. It is ancient Japanese, and you need to read it in the old way : from right to left. 

'Kabushiki Kaisya', 株式會社 are the first words and mean stock/limited company. A common term on Japanese certificates. You mouth the following word much slower : 'Kawa', 川, and 'saki', 崎, 'together Kawasaki', 川崎. Aha, that's interesting, halfway now. 

Already from the start you identified the last two symbols, 'Kabuken',  株券, 'share certificate'. Then you speak loudly, 'Zōsen', 造船, 'shipbuilding .. Tokoro, place', 所. 'Wait a minute, together they form Zōsensho, shipyard !',  造船所. You have figured it out : 'Kabushiki Kaisya Kawasaki Zōsensho Kabuken! I found a share in the Kawasaki Shipyard Co. Ltd '. With your hand-scanner you look up the flag printed on the share. Yep, that is the one.

Six months later, a new exhibition of the objects unearthed by you is launched at the Central Museum. The Kawasaki share is one of the highlights. As one of the museum's educators, you are leading a school group around the show. Of course, you spend time on the Kawasaki and explain all about the way business initiatives and innovations were financed 900 years ago. Some of the kids are babbling on anything but the tour, others look a bit bored. One of the kids raises its arm. 'Yes ?'. The group now turns quiet and looks at you first, then at the kid who says, 'If this piece of paper was meant to finance a business, what type of business would that have been?' The other kids are speechless and are now all staring at you.

Happy with the question and all the attention you have, you clarify 'Well, that could be anything you can think of, but in this case, you can see from the vignettes, the little pictures on the certificate, what this company was all about.' Now, for the first time, all the kids turn to the display case and inspect the Kawasaki share. 'They made ships !', shouts one of them and they all look at you again. 'That is correct ! The Kawasaki Shipyard Company was founded in 1896 and already one year later the company completed the Ivomaru, its first ship. If you look carefully, you can see a drawing of the shipyard behind the lettering. At Kawasaki they were very inventive. In 1906 they completed their first submarine. They even made battlecruisers like the Haruna, which was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and II !'.

After reducing contrast, the underprint of the Kawasaki share reveals 

an image of a dockyard with ships under construction.

click to enlarge image

'And they also made cars .. and airplanes .. and locomotives !', they tell each other and leave their finger prints all over the display case. The kid that posed the first question, raises its arm again. 'Yes?', you wonder amused, 'What's your name ?'. The whole group answers instead, 'Sidney!'. 'Yes, Sidney, what is it ?'  Again, the group turns quiet and Sidney continues, 'These large vertical signs, they look like a cartouche. Is this from a Pharaoh ?' To everyone's reassurance you can not suppress a smile. 'Sidney, that's is actually a good question. A cartouche, an oval with a horizontal line at one end, encloses a royal name and was used in Ancient Egypt.' The boys and girls look disappointed but turn their heads to the share certificate again when you proceed, 'But, as is the case with this Kawasaki share, a signature of a high official or very important person was often printed in such a vertical way.'

'Do you see these five large vertically written characters over here?', and with your light pen you point out the position on the share. 'The first two stand for Matsukata.' , 松方. Some children try to mumble the word. 'The last three are Kōjirō.', 幸次郎 . 'So from top to bottom you read Matsukata Kōjirō.', 松方幸次郎. 'Now repeat all together !' They all chant Matsukato Kōjirō in unison. 

'Matsukata Kōjirō was born in 1865, that's more than a 1,000 years ago, and he was the son of the Prime Minister of Japan. Kōjirō became president of the Kawasaki Shipyard Company in 1896.' 

'Was he rich ?', someone asks. 'Oh yes, his business was very successful for some time. Kōjirō also wanted to give something in return to the people in his country. With the fortune he accumulated, he bought lots of Western European and Japanese art and wanted to build an art museum. Unfortunately he died in 1950 before he could realize his dream. But soon large parts of his collection found a home in Japan's National Museum of Western Art in Ueno and the Tokyo National Museum.'

'I have another question', adds Sidney, 'My dad rides a Kawasaki motorbike, why don't we see a motorbike on the share ?'  Some kids nod, they obviously know Sidney's father. 'Great question Sidney.' The group is proud to have Sidney on board. 'You see, this share was issued in 1921', and you point out the date 大正拾年 on the Kawasaki share. 'In Japan, years were then expressed as the number of years in the reign of the emperor starting with 1. 大正 represents Emperor Taishō, 拾 stands for 10 and 年 is the word for year. Taishō's first year of reign is 1912. So the date we see here is 1912 + 10 -1 which results in 1921. Now, that was easy, isn't it ?'. Everyone in the group tries to convince one another that it was easy. So you continue, 'Kawasaki started producing motorcycles more than 30 years later; therefore we see no motorbike on the share. The first motorbikes were produced by Kawasaki's Aircraft Division. That's why the emblem's on their fuel tanks looked like the Kawasaki flag within a wing.'

Later at home, Sidney tells mom and dad about the museum visit. The child activates the home visualizer and downloads a virtual replica of the Kawasaki share. It rotates slowly in the air when Sidney walks around it. 'Omigosh!'  The floor lamp shines through the image and a large watermark becomes visible.

Reading from right to left the watermark of the Kawasaki share says 

壹拾  株券 : 1x10  share certificates

株式 會社 : Kabushiki Kaisya  = Co., Ltd.

川崎 造船所 Kawasaki Shipyard

In 1969 the Kawasaki Shipyard company merges with its earlier spin-offs, 

Kawasaki Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Kawasaki Aircraft, 

into Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

F.L.

Related links

• Wikipedia's Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation   
• Reading Japanese dates on stocks and bonds 

The Tokyo Motor Show 2013 featured the Kawasaki J Concept motorbike.

Image by Morio [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Be careful with explanation notes !

Introduction : Northrop the first commercial computer customer

In 1939 Jack Northrop founds Northrop Aircraft Inc. This aircraft manufacturer is established nearby Hawthorne, California. The Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter will become one of the most effective and sucessful U.S. air-to-air fighters in the 1960s and early 1970s. Already during World War II Northrop starts developing missiles and from the 1950s unmanned aerial vehicles are produced as well. The fine vignette above can be seen on a certificate from the Northrop Corporation. 

Just after World War II, Northrop orders from the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) an electronic stored-program computer to deal with the many complex calculations required for the design and construction of aircraft and missiles. EMCC develops the BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer and delivers it to Northrop in 1949. The BINAC is EMCC's first product and the world's first commercial digital computer. And so Northrop becomes the first company in the world using a digital computer. The BINAC, however, after delivery to its customer, turns out not to work properly. 

One year later Northrop develops on its own the Magnetic Drum Digital Differential Analyzer (MADDIDA), an electronic version of a mechanical differential analyzer. Such a device solves differential equations by integration. Another year later, in 1951, Northrop builds the Quadratic Arc Computer (QUAC), a special purpose digital computer which computes information to be recorded on magnetic tape for the XSM-62 Snark missile guidance system. In 1959 the name of the company is changed into Northrop Corporation. In the 1960s Northrop's Nortronics Division introduces the NDC-1051, a small general purpose digital airborne computer.

Northrop's history is a fascinating one. I hope you don't mind me bringing this little historic note as an introduction to the topic of this article. In fact, only this particular Northrop share certificate is relevant here.

Northrop Corporation
$1.45 cumulative preferred stock, specimen
Jeffries Banknote Company, printed in the 1960s

Hurray, interesting certificate ! Ew, what are these spots ?

In the image below, you can clearly notice that the spots in the certificate's left corner are actually printed characters. Click the image below, to enlarge the details.

How is that possible ? The certificate was clean, actually perfect at the moment of purchase. After acquisition the share certificate was put in a scripophily collector's album sheet at once.  

An explanation note is to blame.

The previous image shows an empty album sheet. Nothing to worry about ? Wait and see. Put a white paper in the album sheet. 

Now the imprinted characters become visible. Apparently these characters were the ones that were transferred to the share certificate. Strange. 

What actually has happened was this :

1. A certificate was put in the album sheet. Like many of us do, an explanation note was prepared, often a company profile, and put together with the certificate in the sheet.
2. Under pressure of the other sheets in the album, the characters of the note, mostly printed in black, were transferred to the transparant sheet side. Did you know that a full album weighs about 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and a big one, like the one shown 5 kilograms (11 pounds).
3. For some reason, the original certificate, and the corresponding note, is removed from the sheet. A portion of the note's characters remains invisible against the black backside of the sheet.
4. After some time, maybe months later, another stock certificate is inserted in that sheet again. Ignorant of any harm the album is stored away. 
5. A few days later, your new certificate is spoiled. Damage is done. Again under pressure, the characters of the note that was once put in that sheet, are transferred to your new certificate.

The Northrop logo consists of a stylished seagull
see image below

Tips

I've seen others on scripophily bourses showing certificates with accompanying notes in the same sheets. Some advice.

• Do not store your certificates together with explanatory notes in the same sheet. If you want to see a note along your scripophily items, put the notes in dedicated sheets.
• If you are not sure whether you use a brand new album sheet, use a blank piece of paper to check if any characters from an old note have been transferred onto the inside of the sheet. See the example image above.
• Is an album sheet spoiled with transferred characters, then throw away that album sheet.
• Is a certificate spoiled, then there is nothing that you can do. If you want to prevent that certificate from "contaminating" other album sheets, then put it in a smaller album sheet and store that whole in your album.

Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
100 common shares of $1, specimen
facsimile signature of John Knudsen "Jack" Northrop (1895 – 1981)
printed by Jeffries Banknote Co. around the 1940s

F.L.
Signed the Guest Book yet ?

Related links

• Northrop Corporation 
• Jack Northrop 
• BINAC 
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Computer Oral History Collection, 1969-1973, 1977