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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The Benzon family and the Copenhagen Zoo

One of the most appealing items in scripophily are share and bond certificates from zoological gardens. Mostly these prints show naturalistic scenes plentiful with exotic animals. Only a handful of  these "zoo" certificates are available on the collector market.

In fact, using biological terms, zoo shares, with a few exceptions, are among the rarest species in scripophily world. In May 2019, a spectacular example surfaced at an auction organized by the Østlandets Aksjebrev Forening, the Oslo-based branch of the Norwegian scripophily society. The item was the star of the sale and attracted several bidders from Norway and abroad.

This 200 Danish rigsdaler share from Den Zoologiske Have Ved Kjöbenhavn , the Copenhagen Zoo, was issued in 1873. In that year Denmark and Sweden formed the Scandinavian Monetary Union. The Danish krone replaced the rigsdaler in 1875 at the rate of 1 krone = 1/2 rigsdaler.
image source : Østlandets Aksjebrev Forening, Norsk Selskap for Scripofili

Østlandets Aksjebrev Forening, held its fourth auction at Oslo on 4 May 2019. Over 600 lots were at stake and one of these was a 1873 share in Den Zoologiske Have Ved Kjöbenhavn, the Copenhagen Zoo. Reportedly, only one other share from this company is known.

The Danish ornithologist Niels Kjærbølling (1806–1871) founded the zoo in 1859. The city of Copenhagen gave him a part of the Frederiksberg Palace Park as recognition for his work. His books, illustrated with lithographed drawings of birds, became very popular and spread public interest in birds and bird spotting. 

The design of the Copenhagen Zoo share includes not less than eighteen different animal species! Click the image of the share certificate on top to enlarge. We have monkeys, parrots, a snake, a lizard, an emu, kangaroos, a leopard and a lion, a camel walking away, a zebra, a deer, running gazelles, a bear, a curious wild boar, an owl, a lynx taking it easy, a squirrel and a vulture in the sky.

Unfortunately Kjærbølling lacked the experience to run a zoo business. The place was not well maintained and animals died. His son Fritz Hugo Kjærbølling inherited the zoo. He had acquired the knowledge and skills to keep and breed animals at zoos like the one in Cologne. However he could not reverse the zoo's poor financial situation.

Fritz Hugo Kjærbølling discussed the situation with three ornithologists : J. C. H. Fischer, who would become Kultus Minister of Denmark, H. C. Erichsen, head of the Ministry of Finance, and Alfred Nicolai Benzon.

A pharmacist, Benzon (1823-1884) founded his own pharmaceutical manufacturing and distribution business, Alfred Benzon A/S. He was also a well-known and published botanist and ornithologist.

In 1872 these four men decided to set up a new company that would become the owner of the zoo: Den Zoologiske Have Ved Kjöbenhavn. Fischer, Erichsen and Benzon were appointed directors with powers to meddle with the zoo's daily operations. Kjærbølling became the zoo inspector. The arrangement didn't work out and, after being paid for his shares in the company, Kjærbølling, the only one with real zoo keeping experience, had to leave the company.

Two small shield vignettes in its upper corners adorn the share of the Copenhagen Zoo. These are the lesser version of the coat of arms of Denmark (left) and of the city of Copenhagen (right). 

The zoo's first years were difficult but it survived till today. After Alfred Benzon's death in 1884, his pharmaceutical business was passed on to his sons Alfred Benzon Jr. and Otto Benzon. The Benzon family continued to support the zoo.

Alfred Benzon Jr. (1855-1932) was besides an entrepreneur also a painter. He became a pupil of the famous Danish painter Peder Severin Krøyer (1851-1909). The latter painted several works featuring the Benzon's, see here and there. P. S. Krøyer was adopted by his uncle Henrik Nikolai Krøyer, who in turn was ... a Danish zoologist and head of Copenhagen's Natural Museum. It's a small world, they say.

Benzon Jr. produced several marine paintings, like the one here. He was also a good observer and drawer of animals and birds, like many ornithologists. It was he who made also the drawing for the Copenhagen Zoo share.

The Copenhagen Zoo share was printed by I. W. Tegner & Kittendorffs Lith. Inst. The design was made by Alfred Benzon junior.

Alfred Benzon Jr's son, Bøge, undertook several nature expeditions related to nature conservation,  animal protection and the collecting and study of species. In 1952, Bøge Benzon (1891-1976) founded the Alfred Benzon Foundation. He donated his shares in the family business to the foundation.

The Alfred Benzon Foundation supports medical researchers and pharmacists, but also gives the Copenhagen Zoo donations for its research laboratory. Bøge Benzon was the zoo's Director from 1954-1956 and in 1967 its Vice-President.

I have not discussed the coat of arms located at the center of the share certificate. It depicts a shield with the words "Utile Dulci". The shield supports a stag head and is flanked by a bear and a lion. It seems to me that Alfred Benzon Jr., the artist, repeated the stag-lion-bear theme in the large scene at the bottom, be it in a different order. My research was fruitless. Who knows more about this coat of arms ?

This historic share in the Copenhagen Zoo represents the important ties between the zoo and the Benzon family. It was auctioned on 4 May 2019 in Oslo by the Østlandets Aksjebrev Forening. Hammered over three times its start price it was purchased at NOK46000, nearly USD5300, excluding a 15% buyer's premium.

F.L.

Related links

• Zoo. En historie om dyr og mennesker gennem 125 år, by Bent Jørgensen, see here  
• Zoologische Gärten als Kapitalgesellschaften - Geschichtliche Entwicklung und Finanziering, by Armin Schmitz und Arne Metzger, see here 
• Østlandets Aksjebrev Forening, Norsk Selskap for Scripofili, Norwegian scripophily society and publisher of its periodical Scriponytt
• The International Bond & Share Society publishes three times a year Scripophily magazine which, among other topics, reports on auctions in the field 

Spink China Jan 2017 auction

The next 13th January Spink China will present nearly 70 lots of antique bond and share certificates from China and Hong Kong. One of the certificates offered is an early bond from Mongolia.

Earlier, Spink sold a bond from Inner Mongolia, see there. This time a bond from the state of Mongolia will be offered (lot 3341 in the auction, image shown above). In 1924 the Mongolian People's Republic was established with a communist regime. The country suffered from collectivization, economic downturn, unrest, uprisings and during the 1930s from repression and genocide by Stalin. This government bond was issued for 25 Tugrik in 1932. The tugrik (tögrög) was introduced in 1925 at a value equal to one Soviet ruble (18 grams of silver).

Spink China - Jan 2017 auction

Banknotes, bonds & shares and coins of China and Hong Kong

The two days lasting sale features more than 2,000 lots of 

coins, medals, tokens, banknotes and the like.

Practical info

• Session 1 : Jan 13, 2017
• Session 2 : Jan 14, 2017
• Location : Spink, Hong Kong
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

Discover Palestine and Israeli securities in The Shekel journal

Those interested in historic stocks and bonds from Israel and Palestine should have a look at The Shekel, in particular Volume XIV, No. 4, July-August, 1981.

The Shekel
Journal of Israel & Judaic History & Numismatics

In 1968 the American Israel Numismatic Association (AINA) started publishing its journal The Shekel. The magazine encourages the study and collection of Judaic numismatics in the broadest sense. Volume XIV, No. 4, July-August, 1981, contains a topic for us. 

In Scripophily: Judaic fiscal history, author Sidney L. Olson brings a ten page story on securities from Palestine and Israel. Twelve black-and-white images show stocks and bonds issued in British pound, Turkish lira, rubles, Egyptian pound, Palestine pound and lirot (Israeli pound).

The full name for Agrobank is Agriculture & Building Bank for Palestine, Ltd.
This 3% debenture for 2 Palestine pounds was issued in Tel-Aviv, 1939.
This is one of the certificates illustrating the SL Olsen article.
Courtesy by HWPH

There is good news. You can read the article online for free. All Shekel journals were digitized from 1968 up to 2010 by the Internet Archive. Here are the links :

• The Shekel on the Internet Archive 
• Volume XIV, No. 4, July-August, 1981, containing Scripophily: Judaic fiscal history 

After opening an online version of the journal, you'll find a link for a downloadable PDF version.
Likely other issues also contain scripophily material. I'd be happy to know about that.

F.L.

The Shekel is also the name for ancient Israeli coins.
This is a silver Jerusalem shekel (AD 68) from the First Jewish Revolt against Roman rule.
The name Shekel was also chosen for the new currency that replaced the Israeli pound in 1980.
Attribution: Classical Numismatic Group, Inc. 

PS
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What is scripophily ?

Take a little test
What is the oldest and the youngest word in the following list ?

1. scripophily
2. computer
3. android.

I bet you are wrong ! I was too. I'll give you the answer right away.

The word scripophily is a contraction of 

• the English word “scrip”, a certificate entitling ownership right, 
• and the Greek word "φίλος" (philos), meaning "friend".

Scripophily is about collecting old securities and related items
Securities can roughly be divided in :

• debt securities, such as a bond, which represents a debt of a company, a society, a federal, statal or municipal authority, or a non-governmental organization
• equity securities, such as a stock certificate (also known as a share certificate), which represents part ownership of a company, society or association.

More than just collecting
Scripophily involves also the study of stock and bond certificates and their related history. One can be a scripophilist without owning a single stock or bond. 

Did you know that antique stocks and bonds are easy to find ?
Many certificates are common and can be easily and cheaply acquired on bourses and online platforms like eBay. More interesting material is found at dedicated auctions. Some certificates, like this one, are very rare and have a great historical importance and reside only in museums. 

Why collect ?
There are tens of reasons why scripophily items are appealing : security engraving, artistic design, particular vignettes, a pioneering activity, the name of a company, historical background, the name of the holder, a signature of a famous person, and many more reasons.

Société Agricole et Industrielle du Thap-Muoi

Share of 20 French Indochinese piasters, Saigon, 1928, printed in Paris by Chaix

The piaster was the currency of French Indochina between 1885 and 1952.

Tháp Mười is a rural district in the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam.

double-click image to enlarge

Is it really important to make a distinction between true and untrue scripophily? 
Absolutely not. Scripophilists may also collect other related papers, often not regarded as true scripophily, for instance : insurance policies, membership certificates, invoices. The issuers used these papers in their daily business processes. This contrasts with securities that were issued only occasionally during the lifespan of the issuer. Hence, ordinary lottery tickets, drawn on a weekly basis, belong to the former group, and lottery loans to the latter. Combining both types of documents in a collection only contributes to the fun and learning possibilities.

The Ericsson Shipping Company, Ltd, 1915

Printed by Andrew Reid & Co., Newcastle, UK.

The company owned the S.S. Willingtonia, a steel hulled steam cargo ship, built in 1918. 

In the very same year the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine UC27. 

A weird coincidence, the company's shipping flag depicts a swastika, 

in many cultures seen as a sign of good fortune.

Do you know the word in your language ?
In other languages, scripophily is often translated in a similar sounding word

• Escripofilia (Spanish)
• Scriptophilie  (French)
• Scripophilie (French, German)
• Scriptofilie (Dutch)
• Scripofilie (Dutch, Romanian)
• Scripofili (Norwegian)
• Scripofilia (Italian)
• Skripofilija (Lithuanian)
• Skrypofilistyka (Polish)
• Скрипофилия (Russian)

Is the word for scripophily in your language not listed here? Please let me know, I’ll make sure it deserves its place in the list.

How old is the word scripophily ?
The word scripophily is actually a relatively modern word, as you can see here in Google’s Ngram chart. This tool lets you trace the usage of a word or phrase during the past five centuries (!) by seeing how often it's appeared in books over that time span.

The word Scripophily started appearing in books halfway the 1970s.
Source : Google Ngram  Viewer

As  you see, the word Scripophily started appearing in the 1970s, which is pretty modern when compared to words like android (17th century) and computer (16th century). 

F.L.

Tip : The more (online) scripophily friends you have, the more you will share knowledge and have fun. You should join a club or participate in a social media group !

PS : Scripophily is also the name of the magazine issued by the International Bond & Share Society (IBSS), see more here .

Related links 

• International Bond & Share Society (IBSS)
• Wikipedia's Scripophily entry
• Synopsis of the Ocean's Twelve movie, starring Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. In this movie, a gang of thieves pick a European target : " the world's oldest stock certificate, which was issued by the Dutch East India Company in 1602, worth around 2.5 million euros, and kept in Amsterdam. " 
• Saved at the last minute, a story about the life of a share

Can you help me to reach more people by sharing this post ? 

Archives International Auctions - Hong Kong Fall Auction 2014

Archives International Auctions
Hong Kong 3, September 2014
Chinese and Asian Banknotes, Scripophily & Coins

Shanghai Telephone Company
company logo mentions " IT&T System"
double-click image to enlarge
Shanghai, 1933 specimen
$1000 6% 1st Mortgage Silver Dollar Debenture, Series B

The Silver Dollar was introduced in 1914
 as the national currency of the Republic of China.

This auction contains 15 lots of China related scripophily.

• Date : 27 September, 2014
• Place : Hong Kong
• Further info : see here

F.L.

About the mill and the arcade game industry

"That the Money of Account, to correspond with the division of coins, .. 

proceed in a decimal ratio, agreeably to the forms and manner following, viz.

• Mills: The lowest money of accompt, of which one thousand shall be equal to the federal dollar, or money unit __ 0.001
• Cents: The highest copper piece, of which one hundred shall be equal to the dollar __ 0.010
• Dimes: The lowest silver coin, ten of which shall be equal to the dollar ... 0.100
• Dollar: The highest silver coin __ 1.000 "

Source : Journals of the Continental Congress, Tuesday August 8, 1786

The US mill currency

The term mill was used for the first time by the Continental Congress in 1786, only 10 years after the country's Declaration of Independence. One mill represented 1⁄1,000 of a dollar or 0.1¢. As such, the mill - also written as mil - was never released as an official coin or note. 

During the 1930s, the Great Depression period, some cities and a number of American states introduced sales tax tokens, expressed in cents but also in mills. Most of these tokens were produced in denominations for one mill, one and a half mills, two mills and five mills. They were struck in aluminium, brass, copper, zinc, pewter or produced from plastic, wood and even cardboard. After the 1960s virtually none were made anymore.

Missouri 5 mills sales tax token in zinc
Notice the map of Missouri in the design

It is interesting to know how these tokens were used. Shopkeepers and merchants had to pay sales taxes to the state on the sales amount realized in a day. On small sums, e.g. a 10c purchase for a chocolate bar, it was difficult to tax the shopper a percentage of the sales price as there were no coins for such small amounts. Sales tax tokens form the solution. Now, the merchant gave back change in mill tokens and the shopper could pay its next purchase with regular coins and taxes with tokens. This enabled the shopkeeper to collect taxes on each transaction.

No banknotes, no coins, but scripophily !

No official banknotes nor coins have been issued in the mill currency unit. But apparently there are such stock certificates. American stock certificates often mention the official par value, the initial selling price of a single share of stock. One can find certificates of $100 par value, $1 par value, 1ct par value, and in other combinations as well. Lots of companies issued stock mentioning a par value of $.001, the equivalent of a mil. Yet, very few securities actually mention the mil denomination. Here is an example from the Game-A-Tron Corporation, a producer of computer-controlled arcade games.

detail from a Game-A-Tron stock certificate stating the ownership of

shares of One half (1/2) mil Par Value Capital Stock

double-click image to enlarge

The arcade game industry
Early mechanical arcade games were already installed in the 1920s in public places like bars and amusement parks. Fortune telling and pinball machines are examples of these coin-operated entertainment machines. In the 1960s new types of electro-mechanical arcade games were introduced such as Sega's Periscope : a submarine simulator and light gun shooter, see here. By the 1970s a video terminal was introduced in the concept. In 1972 Atari releases Pong, see there, a two-dimensional table tennis video game and became the first commercially successful video game.

Photo of hybrid arcade game Galaga and Ms. Pac Man machine
Source: Brian Katt at the English language Wikipedia

These early arcade machines were designed around discrete logic circuits comprising each element of the game itself. These so-called "finite-state machines" perform a predetermined sequence of actions depending on a sequence of events with which they are presented. Some of these arcade games became extremely popular. In 1978 the Japanese Taito Corporation launched Space Invaders. The game caused a national shortage of 100 yen coins in Japan, leading to a production increase of coins to meet demand for the game. 

Game-A-Tron Corporation
Shares of 1/2 mil par value, 1981
double-click to enlarge image

Twenty years of Belgas

About a decade ago I spotted a Belgian share of the Walburg textile company from the city of St.-Niklaas. At first sight it looked like a rather plain certificate. But I was puzzled because it was not mentioning the familiar Belgian Franc as its currency denomination but Belgas. Thundering typhoons, what were Belgas?

Article based on The Belga Demystified, written earlier and published in

Scripophily magazine No. 81, Dec 2009

Walburg NV was a textile company from St-Niklaas

This 1/3 of a founders share from 1927 mentions a starting capital of 2 000 000 Belgas.

Notice the subtle underprint that was printed by St-Michiels Drukkerij, Ledeberg-Gent

double-click for details