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 As such, they act as a window into the past, making them valuable as historical documents.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 Particular care has been exercised to see that it does not become out-of-date when modern warfare breaks out.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

Veissid Auctions features 850 lots of antique stocks and bonds .. tomorrow!

My apologies for the timing, but here is a late incoming announcement for the Veissid Auctions' event that ends tomorrow. The auction features 850 lots of scripophily representing all parts of the world. 

Some examples:

This share from The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company was issued in 1859. The vignette features a surveyor and a miner, a train approaching a bridge and a real-estate development map. The embossed company seal depicting a train is stunning. L(ot)37 starts at GBP60.

This 25 shares certificate in the Roodepoort United Main Reef Gold Mining Company was issued in 1900. The company registered in the South African Republic, then an independent Boer republic. Two years later, after the Second Boer War, the British Empire annexed the republic which became the Transvaal Colony. L243, a Waterlow & Sons print, may be acquired from GBP100. 

Yukon is the westernmost of Canada's three territories. Yet, the Yukon Gold Company was incorporated in the state of Maine, with a capital stock of $25,000,000. The company conducted hydraulic mining operations on Bonanza Creek, Klondyke River and Hunker Creek, Klondyke Gold Fields, Yukon Territory. This 100 shares certificate was issued in 1910 and printed by the New York Bank Note Company. L601 starts at GBP80. 

Scottish scripophily is not that common. This Campsie Public Hall Company share was issued in 1904 to Miss Anna B. Patton, then a Glasgow resident. The company ran a library and reading room. Printed by Gilmour & Dean somewhere in the 1800s century, L530 starts at GBP25.

There is a lot more to discover, so quickly have a look at Veissid Auctions here. 

F.L.

Poll results - Collecting motives

Do you prefer Beauty or are you more satisfied with A Good Bargain? When it comes to collecting what do you prefer? 

On the occasion of this blog's 10th anniversary, I launched in May 2020 an online poll about five collecting motives :  

• Scarcity
• Beauty
• A Good Bargain
• Collection Completeness
• and Historical Significance. 

These resulted in ten possible combinations: scarcity-beauty, scarcity-a good bargain, etc. For each combination the participant was asked to choose between one or both, in other words, which one he or she preferred.

I leave it up to you to decide to which collecting motive the above share corresponds. The Ford Motor Company of Canada gained all Ford patent rights and selling privileges to all parts of the British Empire other than Great Britain and Ireland. Its share shows the company's sales markets in the British Empire on both hemispheres. It was issued in 1932. That year Adolf Hitler obtained German citizenship, the Kreuger & Toll business empire collapsed, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached its lowest level of the Great Depression and Gandhi, in jail, began his first anti-untouchability fast. 

I believed that the poll questions asked were relevant for banknote, coin, and stamp collectors as well. Thus, I promoted my poll also through the International Bond and Share Society (IBSS) and on a number of numismatic online audiences as well, such as CoinsWeekly, Numismatic Bibliomania Society’s E-Sylum newsletter, a IBNS discussion group, and several scripophily Facebook groups.

It took a few months, but all together 123 people cast their votes. In addition to questions on collecting motives, I started the poll with some general questions to have a better idea of the participants. 

Though poll participation was anonymous, I asked about the participant's country. People responded from at least 20 countries. Top 3 locations were USA, 29%, Germany, 16% and UK, 11%. See the Poll Participants table for the details. 

On the question Are you a member of a scripophily society? 41% replied they were not. But all 8 Belgian participants were members of a scripophily society, wonderful.

The next question queried the participants for their IBSS membership : 

• 56% confirmed they were members. 
• 28% said they were not and “didn’t care”.
• The remainder, 15% or 19 participants, replied they were not IBSS members but “wanted to find out more about IBSS”. In this category we find 2 Belgians, 3 Germans, 1 Indonesian, 1 Dutchman, 1 Filipino, 2 Poles, 1 UK citizen and 6 Americans.

On the question How long have you been a collector of scripophily? 

• 82% said ‘5 years or more’.  I'll call these group "the experienced" ones. 
• 6% indicated they ‘did not collect scripophily’. 
• 15 participants -12%- said ‘less than 5 years’. These are the "starters". Of the latter group, 5 were from the USA. Bravo!

Now what about the collecting motives? Which one is the absolute winner? Do we have the same results for the top 3 locations? Are there any differences between our "starters" and "the experienced" ? Let’s find out.

I used the following method to derive a ranking. For each one of the participants I counted how many times a motive was chosen in the participant’s comparisons. For example, if someone choose Beauty over Scarcity, then Beauty deserved one point, Scarcity zero. This led to 2460 scores : 123 participants * 10 pair comparisons * 2 motives.

And the winner is…

1 Collection Completeness, 332 points

2 Historical Significance, 323 pts

3 Scarcity, 260 pts

4 Beauty, 159 pts

5 A Good Bargain, 156 pts

The overall winner in the contest is Collection Completeness, closely followed by Historical Significance.  

But the numbers also revealed that there are a two nuances. 

1. The group of the American respondents, 36 of them, however preferred Historical Significance above Collection Completeness. 
2. When we analyze the results by the number of years a person is collecting, only one motive prevailed. All 15 participants collecting less than 5 years - our "starters" - strongly preferred Historical Significance above all the other preferences.

Who are the tailenders ? 

This might be a surprise but Beauty and A Good Bargain are apparently less important than the other ones when it comes to collecting motives. Even more, this finding applies to both our starters and the experienced. 

This Ford Canada share may trigger one or more collecting motives. There is a lot to tell about. As you can see in this vignette, the Indian subcontinent is marked. One of Ford Canada's subsidiaries was Ford India Private Ltd where production began in 1926. An extraordinary Ford model was used by Mahatma Gandhi after he settled in Sevagram in 1936. There was no road to Sevagram and during rains people had to walk in knee-deep mud to the place, or use an ox cart to get there. The industrialist Jamnalal Bajaj, a close associate of Gandhi, arranged for a special vehicle to transport VIPs to Sevagram. It consisted of a sawn-off rear half of an old Ford car, drawn by oxen. They called it the 'Oxford'. In 1941 automobile magnate Henry Ford would write Gandhi a letter to tell him how much he admired Gandhi. 

With this poll I did not reach collectors from South America, Africa and scripophily countries France, Russia, and China. It would be interesting to repeat the experiment on a future occasion and include a version in Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese.

My sincere thanks to all who participated and spread the word. I hope you found it as interesting as I did.

Happy New Year !

F.L. 

Previous posts

• Unleash your detective skills with scripophily puzzle no. 4! 
• Osakekirjat Kertovat, Finnish scripophily book review 

FHW sells Chinese scripophily collection

Freunde Historischer Wertpapiere has scheduled its 118th auction for October 3rd 2020. This time more than 1,500 lots of antique securities will go under the hammer including the China collection of former Volkswagen CFO Dr. Werner P. Schmidt.

This scripophily event starts off with more than 300 American lots with the emphasis on US railway stocks and bonds.

A stunning print, this share from the Alaska Central Railway Company was issued in 1903. Engraved by the Seattle Engraving Company and printed by Yerkes Printing Company, it shows a full map of Alaska with the proposed route of the railroad and where timber, coal, gold, copper and quartz were to be found. Click the image to enlarge and note the area on top of the map designated as 'UNEXPLORED'. Lot 3 in the auction 

China collectors and investors will be interested in the collection of Dr. Werner P. Schmidt, recently deceased, and former CFO of Volkswagen AG. The series starts with lot 325, a share from the Aka-Dine Wood Production Company, and features several more shares from Taiwan. 

The Schmidt collection also counts several external loans from China. A £1000 bond from The Chinese Central Government Loan aka Arnold Karberg Loan III, only 300 issued, very rare, is one of the highlights and is expected to realize €5000. Lot 334 in the sale.

Chinese Government 23rd Year (1934) 6% Sterling Indemnity Loan for £1,500,000 

The Republic of China (ROC) was based in mainland China between 1912 and 1949, before the relocation of its government to the island of Taiwan. This £1000 bond shows the portrait of Sun Yat-Sen, Provisional President of the ROC. It was issued to finance the completion of the Canton-Hankow Railway. Part of the Dr. Werner P. Schmidt Collection and lot 338 in the auction.

Detail from lot 411, a share from the Kuangtun Canton-Hankow Railway Company (Kwong-Tung Yueh-Han), from the Dr. Werner P. Schmidt Collection. 

Germany gets the "lion's share" of the auction. Nearly 900 lots are divided over two sections, Deutschland (pre Deutsche Mark) and DM (from 1945 onwards). Note that both contain a subsection with 20 highlight picks from the auctioneer.

Offered as lot 1005 this 25 Reichsthaler Gold share in the Aper Canal-Gesellschaft was issued in 1849, Westerstede. The vignette is drawn by the artist A. Gordes. 

The catalog's table of contents reveals that scripophily from other countries is there as well. Nearly 100 lots represent the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Indexes on collecting themes, such as Art Nouveau, and German regions, may help you find what you are looking for.

Szeged is now one of the largest cities in Hungary. This share in the Szeged-Alsótanyai Népbank , or People's Bank of Szeged-Alsótanyai, was issued in 1906 when Szeged was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. A great example of Szecesszió, the Hungarian Art Nouveau variant. Lot 569 

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

• Location : The event takes place at Wolfenbüttel, however, at the time of writing, due to the covid-19 situation personal presence is likely not possible. Check out whether a visit is possible with the auction house. 
• Date : 3 October, 2020
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/ 

"You will find happiness and joie de vivre while sleeping in a Steiner Paradies bed"

Now that's what we call maintaining a successful house-style. The Vienna subsidiary of the Paradiesbettenfabrik Steiner reused the photovignette from an earlier advertising campaign on its 1924 share. The Paradies brand still exists today. Lot 557 in the sale. 

F.L.

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Reference Book : Stocks and bonds from the Corinth Canal

Not so long ago the Greek mainland was still connected to the Peloponnesus peninsula by a land bridge, 6.4 km wide, named the Isthmus of Corinth. When you sail, let's say, from Patras, in the northern Peloponnesus, all the way around the peninsula, to Piraeus, Athens' ancient navy base, you cover a distance of about 420 nautical miles, or 780 km. The same trip over land takes only 220 km. 

Roman emperor Nero was the first who started the construction of a canal through the narrow Isthmus of Corinth. He must have thought that transporting goods and troops from the Ionian coast cities to the ports on the Aegean Sea could go faster. It's hard to imagine now, but before, labourers, slaves, rolled boats on logs across the land to bridge the gap, so to speak. Nero's project started in 67 AD and employed thousands of slaves. When he died the next year, so did the project.

In Der Kanal von Korint, author Hans-Georg Glasemann brings the story of the Corinth Canal from both a historical and a financial angle. The shares and bonds issued by the three companies that built and operated the Corinth Canal are featured in the book's catalog section. The book, written in German, is aimed at the collector of old securities, and anyone who is interested in the historical background of this interesting canal project.

This is a detail from a vignette on a share from the Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe. You can recognize the boot of Italy on the left, Greece in the middle and the Asian part of Turkey on the right. Dashed lines show the ancient sea routes around Greece. New routes running through a canal near the city of Corinth are marked by full lines. Note, when this share was issued in 1882, large parts of the Balkans, including the northern part of Greece, belonged to "Turquie", the Ottoman Empire. 

Here is an overview of the book's chapters :

• Historische Betrachtung
• Träume vom Korinther Kanal in der Antike
• Internationale Gesellschaft des Seekanals von Korinth 1882
• Griechische Gesellschaft des Kanals von Korinth 1890
• Neue Gesellschaft des Kanals von Korinth 1907
• Kanal von Korinth - heute
• Biografien
• István Türr (1825-1908), ungarischer Freiheitsheld
• Béla Gerster (1850-1923), ungarischer Ingenieur
• Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894), französischer Diplomat und Kanalbauer
• Katalogteil
• Erläuterungen zu den Wertpapieren
• Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe 1882-1890
• Société Hellénique du Canal de Corinthe 1890-1907
• Nouvelle Société Anonyme du Canal de Corinthe 1907-1980
• Literaturhinweise

Freely translated, these are the chapters in English :

• Historical consideration
• Dreams of the Corinthian channel in Antiquity
• International Company of the Sea Canal of Corinth 1882
• Greek Corinth Canal Company 1890
• New Corinth Canal Company 1907
• Channel of Corinth - today
• Biographies
• István Türr (1825-1908), Hungarian freedom fighter
• Béla Gerster (1850-1923), Hungarian engineer
• Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-1894), French diplomat and canal builder
• Catalog section
• Explanations on the securities catalogued
• Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinth 1882-1890
• Société Hellénique du Canal de Corinth 1890-1907
• Nouvelle Société Anonyme du Canal de Corinth 1907-1980
• References

Another vignette on the Canal Maritime de Corinthe share shows a cross section of the proposed project. The canal would be excavated at sea level requiring no locks. 

In the first part of the book, the author pilotes the reader through the canal's history. It starts more than 1800 years after emperor Nero's attempt, in 1882, when the Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe initiated the excavation of the Corinth Canal. At the head of the company stood the hungarian István Türr (1825-1908). He appointed Gerster Béla (1850-1923), also a hungarian, as the project's chief engineer. The expenses grew bigger than planned and the company went bankrupt in 1890.

But the digging was continued by a new Greek company, the Société Hellénique du Canal de Corinthe, with success. The official opening of the canal took place in 1893 in the presence of King George I. In 1907 the Nouvelle Société Anonyme du Canal de Corinthe took over the canal exploitation until 1980. The canal's depth turned out to be insufficient for the large cargo ships of today. The canal is now a leisure attraction.

500 French francs share in the Société Internationale du Canal Maritime de Corinthe, 1882 
Catalog number KK-010, part of an issue of 60000 bearer shares of 500 francs 
image : eWertpapiermuseum EDHAC 

The book's catalog section groups the Corinth Canal securities by company and by issue. Entries include a catalog number, a value indication, an image, circulation and other details on the particular issue. Some more details about the book :

• Title : Der Kanal von Korinth - Historische Wertpapiere 1882-1977, in English : The Corinth Canal - Securities 1882-1977
• Author : Hans-Georg Glasemann
• ID : ISBN 978-3-74945-231-6, published by BoD - Books on Demand, Norderstedt, 2019 
• Languages : German
• Number of pages : 60
• Images : over 40 color images, mostly from securities, including some black and white pictures
• Index : no index, but companies and securities are organized in the catalog section by company and issue

The designer of the Canal Maritime de Corinthe share clearly invested some time in researching the ancient city-state of Corinth. The columns drawn on both sides of the print are typical Corinthian with capitals decorated with acanthus leaves. The coins placed on both columns are actually both sides of a Corinth Stater, ca 345-307 BC. The obverse shows a flying Pegasus with a Koppa sign Ϙ below its belly. The Ϙ is used in the archaich spelling of the city name Ϙόρινθος (Korinthos). The reverse shows the goddess Athena with an upward tipped Corinthian helmet.  

image : via Wikipedia, Classical Numismatic Group, Inc.

Hans-Georg Glasemann's work can be ordered from BoD in print and as an E-book, here. The book is part of a trilogy on historic canals. The second book, about the Panama Canal, appeared just recently. The third one will cover the Suez Canal. 

F. L. 

PS : 
Hans-Georg Glasemann maintains his own blog about antique securities. 
Please check his Nonvaleurs Blog 

Worldwide scripophily touch down in Würzburg

HWPH Historisches Wertpapierhaus AG has something to celebrate ! The company conducts its 50th auction anniversary on Saturday 15 September, a week from today.  Over 900 lots of bonds and shares will then go on the block at public auction. And more than 1,200 lots are offered in the accompanying online auction ending 2 PM Monday 17 September. Here is a quick tour.

The Asia and the Middle-East section starts the ball rolling in both sales. Here are a few observations. Issued in Shanghai, 1939, a share from the Russian-Chinese Credit Society,  L(ot) 685, extremely rare, starts at €2,500. The Holy Land is well represented with certificates like The Palestine Corporation Limited, 1949, L973. A share from The Palestine Land Development Company dates from as early as 1909, L974. The Japanese Meigo Steel Corporation and Naigai Steel Corporation may be acquired from €1. From Turkey, there is the Drumm Collection, historic in Scripophily, but more about that see there.

The Premier Automobiles Ltd., India 

Lot 977 in the auction, the share is signed by the industrialist, philanthropist and cricketer Lalchand Hirachand as Director, and starts at €120. 

Almost 300 lots represent The Americas. An early Puerto-Rican share, L23, Compañia del Vapor de Catañio starts at €130. From New Orleans, a 1840 Mexican Gulf Rail-Way Company bond, L37,  invites bidding from €450. Nearly 50 Confederate States of America are offered in both auctions. The advanced CSA expert will recognize the CSA 8% Montgomery, 1861, $500 and $1000 bonds, L24 & L25, vignettes of J. C. Calhoun and J. Davis, respectively. Lot range 48-52 is all about Thomas Alva Edison scripophily, including signatures.

William Steinway, who made the Steinway & Sons piano company world famous, developed his own company town Steinway Village in Astoria, New York. This is the serial number 1 share from the Astoria Electrical Manufacturing Company, issued to its Director William Steinway, 1891. The company manufactured electrical motors. Lot 18 in the auction, €150 start price. 

HWPH, known for its Russian offerings, included this time nearly 250 lots from Russia and the former USSR. Formed in London, the New Central Siberia Ltd, L703, was active in gold mining around Yeniseysk. From Saratov, a rare 1000 Roubel bond from 1898, L782, is set at €1,600. Vignettes of a tramcar, a map of the region and a dynamo illustrate an extremely rare share from the Donbass Electric Company, L691.

A great example of Soviet artistic design, click the image to enlarge. This lottery bond was part of an internal loan issued for Stalin's second five-year plan, 1933. Lot 888, in the auction, may be bought from €100. 

Excluding Russian and German material, HWPH included over 500 European lots, representing nearly every country. Here are some interesting items. You'll find their chocolate in almost any airport, from Switzerland, €70 can buy you a Chocolat Tobler share, L1020. Art Nouveau and Art Deco artists created wonderful angels on these beauties : Banco Regional de Cataluña, L69, La  Protectrice, L99 and Exposition Religieuse Internationale de 1900, L120.  The sales 50 Highlights section includes a spectacular share from The Baltic Salvage Association. What words can not describe, a high quality image reveals in detail. So here is a link.

Zoo collectors will love seeing these : Thiergarten-Gesellschaft in Wien, L155, Actien-Verein des zoologischen Gartens zu Berlin, L333 , Neue Zoologische Gesellschaft, Frankfurt, L457, Société Royale de Zoologie d'Anvers, L1333 and my personal favorite, Koninklijk Zoologisch Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra, Amsterdam, L669.

Koninklijk Zoologisch Genootschap Natura Artis Magistra, 

500 Gulden share, unissued, 1853, Amsterdam 

Natura Artis Magistra, or "Nature is the teacher of the arts", is one the oldest zoos built on mainland Europe. The zoo had three gates with the words 'Natura', 'Artis' and 'Magistra'. The Artis gate was the main one, and that's how the zoo is usually called. Only a handful of certificates like this one,  L669, are known. Bids are invited from €2,000. 

Over 900 German lots are spread over several sections in both auctions :

• 16th - 18th century
• Germany pre 1948
• German currency history
• Deutsch Mark (DM) certificates
• Southern Germany 
• 50 Highlights

From the pre 1948 section, I noted Stadt Magdeburg 8% 100,000 Mark bond, 1923, text in German and, unusual, also in English, with striking colors and great harbour vignette, L1667.

Some German bonds and shares have survived several currency periods. During their circulation these certificates have received several currency conversion stamps, and therefore form an interesting collecting theme 'German currency history'.  The William Janssen AG share, L1722, lived through four currency periods : issued in Mark, stamped consecutively in Gold Mark and Reichsmark and was still negotiable in the early DM period.  

The DM section contains several early computer manufacturers : Anker-Werke, L1731, Nixdorf Computer, L602, Walther Electronic, L1856, and Siemens, L304.

The auctioneer produced a dedicated catalogue for The 50 Highlights section with extra large images and background information. Among the German lots, you'll find a collection of 192 Hamburg city related loans, some of them from the 18th and even the 17th century, L653. Historic is a J. W. von Goethe share from 1793, see the following image. 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe signed this Ilmenauer Kupfer- und Silber Bergwerk share, issued in 1793. Goethe, mainly known as a poet, novelist, playwright (Faust), philosopher, diplomat and politician, was also a mineralogist. The mineral goethite (iron oxide) is named after him. One of highlights in Matthias Schmitt's 50th auction, lot 650, it is expected to realize €20,000. 

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

• dates & locations
• HWPH Auction 50 (lots 1-912): 15 September 2018, Würzburg, including Award Journalistenpreis Historische Wertpapiere und Finanzgeschichte around 3 PM as part of the auction event
• Ersten Deutschen Historic-Actien-Club e.V (EDHAC) members meeting:  16 September, same location of the public auction, Würzburg
• HWPH Auction 51 (lots 913-2180): 17 September, Internet only
• More info
• See here, a separate catalog in Russian is available see there 
• Remote bidding is also possiblie through Invaluable.com. Tip: On Invaluable.com, the auctioneer has listed high quality images, like this one. 
• The Drumm Collection 

F.L.

Guadeloupe on the map

Guadeloupe is a small group of islands forming one French overseas department in the Caribbean. Very few Guadeloupean bond and share certificates are known. G Cifré's La France d'Outre-Mer only lists seven certificates. From a statistical point, the chance of finding scripophily with a map of Guadeloupe would be one in a million.

Société Anonyme des Usines de Beauport
5000 Francs share, undated

In 1908 the sugar factory Société Anonyme des Sucreries de Port-Louis (SASPL) was taken over by three Bordeaux families, who operated it as the Société Anonyme des Usines de Beauport (SAUB). The company was founded in 1863 and made use of its own railway system to transport sugar cane from the surrounding estates. After World War I more and more bananas were grown on the islands. Sugar, once a highly profitable trade, lost gradually its importance and suffered from several poor harvests. SAUB went bankrupt in 1981.

The map on the certificate shows Guadeloupe's two main islands.
It is not visible on the rather roughly drawn map, but both islands,
Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, are separated by a narrow sea channel
called Rivière Salée (Salt River).
Double-click image to enlarge.

Guadeloupe was colonized from 1635 onward by the Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique, a French chartered company. Over the next two centuries the British seized the island group several times from the French. Just before French control of Guadeloupe was internationally accepted after the 1815 Treaty of Vienna, Sweden owned Guadeloupe for about 15 months as a result of the Anglo-Swedish Alliance in 1813. Have you seen any early Swedish Guadeloupe scripophily ? Me neither, but scripophily often reveals big surprises, sooner or later.

F.L.

Reference links

• The Railways of Guadeloupe 2013 by Rob and Yuehong Dickinson
• Wikipedia's Guadeloupe 

La Belle France under the hammer

Lot 400 Compagnie Générale des Services Publics de Paris et la France

This 1906 founder's share shows the map of France in the underprint 

surrounded by not less than 10 coats of arms of French cities : Paris, Marseille, 

Toulouse, Bordeaux, Rouen, Nice, Nantes, Lyon, Lille and St. Étienne.

double-click image to enlarge

Next Friday and Saturday, Mario Boone's 55th international auction of antique stocks & bonds will take place in the heart of Brussels (Hotel NH Carrefour de l'Europe). I've announced this event in my previous post. This time, I want to bring to your attention a special collection to be auctioned during the happening.

Lot 368 : Société de Constructions de Levallois-Perret
Certificat nominatif d'actions de 100 Francs, issued 1939
Formed Paris, 1893, as successors to Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel
Rarity indication R10 (3-5 pieces known)

Société de Constructions de Levallois-Perret
detail from the certificate above
1866 Gustave Eiffel set up his own engineering office
 at 48 Rue Fouquet in Levallois-Perret. The street
was later renamed into Rue Gustave Eiffel.

France, a Walhalla in scripohily
There is no other nation that has left us so many decorative bond and share certificates like France. For many years, I've been studying auction guides, and I don't think that other countries count more artists, engravers or lithographers. I started to believe I had a good idea of what French scripophily could offer. Boy, am I wrong ! Splendour .. amazement .. rarity .. significance .. these are words that instantly crossed my mind when flipping through this collection's catalogue.

Lot 360 : Société de l'Ascenseur de la Terrasse de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Share of 100 francs, 1899, Paris

Société de l'Ascenseur de la Terrasse de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
detail from the certificate above
design by Ch. Lapierre and engraving by A. Napier
printed by Imprimerie G. Richard

La Belle France
In this special auction 500 French stocks and bonds will be sold separately. The collection was brought together over a period of 25 years by an European collector, wishing to stay anonymous. Auctioneer Mario Boone says : “In my view, the greatest joy that comes with being an auctioneer is the privilege that one gets to see, catalogue and research truly superb collections such as this one. Despite being a leading auctioneer of French scripophily since many years, I have never before come across so many rarities and novelties as in this collection. That we can auction this collection, which has been built and treasured for decades, is deeply honouring.”

Lot 291 : Revillon Frères
500 francs share, Paris 1908
The company had fur shops in Paris, London, New York,
Moscow, Montreal and elsewhere
Only two pieces known according to the auctioneer

Revillon Frères
detail from the certificate above
grandiose design by A. Antigue
printed by Imp. Lahure

À chacun son goût

The collection covers three centuries, all major industries and themes and is also geographically most interesting. It includes not only, as mostly seen, Paris-issued shares, but also many pieces from other French cities and departments. Besides French colonial shares, the auction contains sections with French companies operating in Australasia, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin and North America including California Gold Rush certificates. 

Lot 171 : Société Anonyme pour l'Amélioration, l'Education et
la Vente des Chevaux de Luxe de Race Française
Action de 1000 Frances à un quatre centième, 1837

Société Anonyme pour l'Amélioration, l'Education et la Vente 
des Chevaux de Luxe de Race Française
detail from the certificate above
Design and lithography by Ferdinand Séré
Printed by C. Adrien from Paris

Practical info 

• Auction date: 30 October & 1 November 2015 
• Place: Brussels, Belgium
• Further info, see here  

Lot 82 : Entreprise de Déchargement des Ports de Paris
100 Francs share, 1924, Paris
printed by Imp. Spéciale pour Titres

100 Words to improve your French scripophily skills

If you start collecting stocks and bonds from France, you need to learn a bit of French. Many words can easily be understood because they are written similarly to the corresponding word in English. Some examples : automobiles, fruits coloniaux (colonial fruit), banque (bank), compagnie (company), edit (edict), funiculaire (funicular) and navigation.

However, other expressions are less obvious to derive. Here is a list of 100 French terms that you will observe sooner or later on those nice papers. You will also find out that the French language often provides words that are pleasant to pronounce, e.g. tuilerie and messagerie fluviale. 

F.L.

Lot 361 : Société Pyrénéenne d'Entreprises
500 Francs share, 1919, Paris
The company was founded in 1919 to make dams,
hydroelectric facilities and bridges in the Pyrenees.
printed by Union des Arts Graphiques

Reduce contrast to reveal a hidden underprint

What is an underprint ?

When two different designs are printed over one another, then we speak of a design with an underprint. 

Malabar Forests and Rubber Company
Shares of 50 Rupees (10 Rs. paid up)
Bombay, 1921
double-click to enlarge

On the example above, we can distinguish two printing designs : an elephant (the underprint design) and the main design containing the share's text that was printed on top of the underprint.

Some underprints may look hazy or even be hidden

Not all underprints are so clearly recognizable as our fierce elephant shown above. A good example is a certificate of the Charbonnages André Dumont, a Belgian coal mining company.

Société Anonyme des Charbonnages Andre Dumont
English: André Dumont Coal Mines company
Kasbon 10 Frank, unsigned
17 May 1940, Waterschei (Limburg province, Belgium)

Well, you actually can't call this a bond, though the word 'Kasbon' (English: savings certificate) is printed on  the certificate. From Schwan-Boling's World War II Remembered, we learn that it is a local Belgian emergency note printed between the initial German attack, 10 May 1940 and the Belgian surrender on 28 May 1940. Due to the initial chaos several communities were forced to issue emergency currency.

So far for history. The image shown is not a bad scan. The actual piece is just printed in such subtle colors. Reducing contrast is the trick that will result in an image with a more recognizable underprint, as you can see here.

Image of the same certificate, but with strongly reduced contrast settings.
Double-click to enlarge.

For the record, I am not in favor of embellishing images of scripophily papers. Images should represent the true look of the certificate. However, I see no problem in editing images for researching purposes.

What is contrast ?

In digital image editing, the word contrast stands for the difference between dark and light. When increasing contrast, the darker pixels are pushed towards black and the lighter pixels towards white.  Otherwise said, the difference between the tone of a darker pixel and a lighter pixel is increased. The opposite action, decreasing contrast, yields more visible shades of darker and lighter pixels.

Société Anonyme Agricole et Industrielle d'Egypte
4% Bond for 500 francs, Cairo, 1905
Printed by Imp. VVe. Monnom, Bruxelles 
Hard to tell at first sight and even at second sight : 
there is an interesting underprint present.

How can you decrease the contrast ?
You need a digital image editor which is a piece of software that you use to edit digital images. I have tried the following software products : MS Digital Image 2006 Standard  Edition Editor and Picasa 3, both locally installed on my desktop, and Pixlr Editor an online photo editing software, see here . The latter allows you to upload your image, edit and share it to other social platforms or download it back to your desktop.

Something that struck me was that each of these softwares handle a different name for the contrast editing function. In the mentioned products, this is the function that you should apply for decreasing contrast :

• MS Digital Image 2006 : in the Touch-up menu, decrease Contrast 
• Picasa 3 : in the Tuning tab features, increase Shadows (yes 'decreasing contrast' has the same meaning as 'increasing shadows')
• Pixlr Editor : in the Adjustment menu, increase Contrast in combination with a decrease of Brightness

Société Anonyme Agricole et Industrielle d'Egypte
detail of the underprint of the bond listed above
After reducing contrast in Picasa, the remnants of an ancient temple appear.
Double-click to enlarge.

What if the underprint is still not clear ?

To illustrate this topic, I'll use the Japanese bond depicted below.

This  patriotic WWII bond was issued by the Japan Hypothec Bank in 1942.  Between Dec 1937 and Aug 1945 this bank sold over 4.2 billion Yen in war bonds, most of them in denominations of  15 Yen or less. This particular bond shows a falling bomb with the Japanese name 大東亜戦争 which means Greater East Asia War. The term was introduced to mark the period when Japan extended the war from a regional conflict in China to a wider war all over South-East Asia and the Pacific. The red rays behind the bomb are derived from the Japanese military flag and represent the sun.

Schwan-Boling's book mentions that the bond was printed by the Toppan Printing Company from Tokyo. As an anti counterfeiting measure, the large red serial number was printed on the face and back of the certificate. The number on the back was the mirror image and aligned perfectly with the one on the face.  Extremely difficult to reproduce.

 

5 Yen patriotic wartime bond 1942

issued by the Nippon Kangyo Ginko (English: Japan Hypothec Bank)
-

The blue round logo of the bank is printed at the top
and is repeated several times as a watermark.
double-click to enlarge

There is also an underprint but it is hardly noticeable. So, as I did before with the other certificates, I scanned the certificate and reduced the contrast in the image. This was the result : no significant improvement. The underprint was still unclear.

The underprint is still not very visible after reducing contrast.

Miserable molecule of mildew! The only thing I could think off, was using the edited image, not the originally scanned image, again as input for the image editor software. So I reduced the contrast on that "second generation" image, and that gave a better result. Now, you can see that a map appears in the underprint. Visible is : China, the South Korea peninsula, Japan's major islands Hokkaido and Honshu, and Taiwan as well.

Double-click to enlarge and detect a map of South East Asia.

Summary of the procedure

1. Scan the certificate with an underprint.
2. By means of a digital image editing software, see some examples above, reduce the contrast drastically, and save the resulting image.
3. If the underprint is still not clear, then repeat step two, but instead of using the original scan, use the resulting image from that step.

Another example where I reduced the contrast of an underprint, can be seen here . 
I'm sure that some of you have similar certificates.
Were you able to reveal the barely visible underprint ?
Did you follow the same approach ?  

F.L.

p.s. Concerning the bond with the hidden map: to be honest, I am a bit disappointed that I didn't find a spot on the map marked with an "X".   8)


N.B. More nice examples of underprints can be found here and there .