Booneshares offers rare US railroad and South American certificates in December scripophily auction

Mario Boone is a major player in the field of antique share certificates and financial documents. The auctioneer scheduled his 71st scripophily auction on 2 December 2023. This auction will take place live on the internet via the Invaluable platform. On the agenda are more than 1000 lots of bonds and shares.

The auction features stunning shares from all parts of the world. This founders share from the Banque de Cochinchine was issued in 1907 and printed by the well-known security printer Crabbé. The share is signed by Noël Pardon, who previously was acting governor of Cochinchina and New Caledonia, and then governor of Guadeloupe and Martinique. L(ot) 46 starts at €400.

For this occasion, auctioneer Mario Boone has compiled a strong section of US railroad certificates. To give an example: L777, starting at €300, comprises a 1877 bond from The Cheraw and Chester Railroad Company, South Carolina. Only two examples known and coxrail.com reports no sales recorded within the last ten years. 

The US railroad section counts over 200 lots. A few more examples:

• 5% First Mortgage Gold Bond $1000 from The Canon City and Cripple Creek Electric Railway Company, mountain vignette, 1897, L762
• L949, The Western Virginia and Kentucky Rail Road and Coal Company, $1000 bond, 1857, several vignettes, amazing scrollwork and very rare
• L769, The Central Union Depot and Railway Company, $100 shares, 1885, vignette of Cincinnati building and street scene 
• A rare print from the American Bank Note Company is L876, Nevada Southern Railway Company, First Mortgage 5% 30 Year Gold Bond of $1000, 1893 

The auction catalog includes stock certificates from companies involved in all types of activities. Such as this CELTA share. This cooperative was founded in 1931 to compete with Sudam, a private company providing electricity to the city of Tres Arroyos in Argentina. The still existing cooperative expanded its activities over the years also including telephone, funeral, health and dental services. This share, issued in 1939, presents a bold Art Deco scene conceived by the artist T. Menna. 

Often these old securities have been designed by the artists of the day. The auction catalog lists a special index of the artists and engravers featured in the offerings. The certificate illustrated below depicts a Congolese woman with basket, an elephant tusk, a village, a map of the Basankusu region and the Star of Congo in the underprint. 

The early 20th century share shown here is from the notorious ABIR. The company harvested rubber in the Congo Free State, then private property of King Leopold II of Belgium. ABIR forced the local population to pay taxes and to harvest rubber under inhumane conditions. Those who failed where beated, mutilated, killed or their relatives were kidnapped or raped. This share from 1904 is a testament to Belgium's awful low point in history. 

It was Frans Hens who made the design of the certificate. He was the first Belgian artist to travel in the 1880s through the Congo and paint its nature, villages and people. He became known as a painter of the Belgian coast and the Schelde river. L82 is listed with a start price of €50. 

Another major topic in the sale is South America. The auction includes several single-item lots but also group lots from most South American countries. Collectors have the opportunity to acquire several certificates in these lots at reduced average item prices. However, in case no group bids are received most of these groups will be split into single-item lots during the auction.  

Illustrated above is L1002 a 1909 Banco de Guatemala share. Printed by Waterlow & Sons it shows several vignettes and many guilloches. Very lovely printed is the Resplendent Quetzal - featured in the coat of arms of Guatemala: the country's national bird representing freedom and independence.  L1002 is part of the Guatemala group lot, L992.

There is lots more to discover in the auction. Here are the auction details :

• Location: this is an Internet only auction
• Date: 2 December 2023
• Further info : online catalog, PDF file & bidding, see here on the auctioneer's website, or via the Invaluable platform, see there  

F.L.

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SPINK's e-Auction of bonds and shares is up and running !

SPINK's Bonds and Share Certificates of the World e-Auction is at present open for bidding. It presents 329 lots of antique bond and share certificates.

The first major section in the sale, over 40 lots of Australian scripophily, starts with a rare share in The Kalgoorlie Electric Tramways, L(ot) 4. Even more rare is a 1891 founders' share from The Midland Railway Company of Western Australia, Ltd, modestly estimated at £120-150, L6. Furthermore, a collection of securities illustrating the Australian land speculation of the 1880’s and the inevitable collapse in 1893 is part of the offerings. 

The Scot James Munro emigrated to Victoria in 1858 where he set up a printing business. He expanded into banking and promoting building societies, became rich, entered politics and engaged in land speculation. In 1881 he founded the Federal Building Society and the Federal Bank of Australia. In 1890 Munro became Premier of Victoria. When the land boom collapsed, his bank was the first bank to fail in the subsequent banking crisis of 1893. Munro's  companies left debts of over ₤600,000. The Australasian newspaper of April 22, 1893, reported that he was attacked and beaten unconscious in a Melbourne street by a man who had been ruined in the crash. 

James Munro signed this 1883 share certificate, L19 in the sale.

The Great Britain and Ireland section counts nearly 70 lots. Some examples 

• Neptune, a masterpiece vignette from the American Bank Note Company, presents a 1916 $5000 specimen bond from The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, L236.
• L302 Vauxhall Bridge Company, 1872, with extraordinary copper seal
• L271 The Greenock Steamship Company Ltd, vignettes of sailing ship and shipping flag, 1882.

There is also a unique group of about ten British Government SPECIMEN bonds, all of which are the only examples known and which should attract many bidders. Unique. As an example, there is L249, a 3% Conversion Loan 1948-1953 £100 specimen bearer bond, London, 1933, facsimile signature of N. K. Warren-Fisher as Treasury secretary, typed letter included.

One of the highlights in the sale is lot 253, a 1835 share from The Blaydon, Gateshead and Hebburn Railway Company.

The Blaydon, Gateshead and Hebburn Railway Company Act 1834 authorized for the "making and maintaining a railway from Blaydon to Hebburn with six branches thereout, all within the county of Palatine of Durham". The railway was established in 1834, leaving the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway at Blaydon and running eastwards along the river Tyne on its south bank in order to provide an outlet for coal mined in the Tanfield area. With only a small portion of the intended 11 miles built, the Newcastle and Carlisle took over the line in 1836. This share was printed on vellum and issued in 1835 to John Lionel Hood, mayor of Newcastle in 1834-35. Newcastle's Hood street was named after him. 

T. Challoner made this drawing of a steam train with coal wagons, ship at dockside, mine buildings and a windmill in the distance. It was the talented William Collard who engraved this unusual large and detailed vignette. Collard specialized in map and landscape engraving. He engraved a map of Durham in 1834, and in 1841 he published his Architectural and Picturesque Views in Newcastle upon Tyne. 
Lot 253 in the auction, estimated at £3000-4000. Click image to enlarge

SPINK's e-Auction includes scripophily from countries around the globe, except from the USA which will have its own separate sale at the end of June, says specialist Mike Veissid.

Here are some more  fascinating examples of SPINK's current event  :

• L153 Kingdom of Denmark, 34 Year 4.5% External Loan Gold Bond of $1000, 1928, facsimile signature of historian and former Prime Minister of Denmark Niels Neergaard, large vignette of the Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament
• L221 Schlusselbourg Calico Printing Company (Manufacture d'Indiènnes de la Compagnie de Schlusselbourg), 1000 Roubles share, text in Russian, English and French, St. Petersburg, 1869, see also L222 & L223
• L323 From Colombia, Timbiqui Gold Mines Company Limited, £1 share, 1900, large vignette of gold panning on a riverbank
• If you are into James Bond, then L78 might be something for you. This debenture from The Cathay Land Company, Limited, was issued to William Johnston Keswick in 1933. Keswick was Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council preceding the Pacific War and survived a murder attempt by the Japanese in Shanghai. He became head of the China Theatre of the Special Operations Executive, Britain's wartime secret service, known as "Churchill's Secret Army". After WW II a part of SOE's personnel became agents of MI6.

Several certificates in the sale are issued to or signed by Jewish entrepreneur Eleazor Silas Kadoorie who, together with his brother, made fortune in the banking, rubber, real estate and electric power business.  This share from The Semambu Rubber Estates, Ld., was issued in 1932 and signed by Kadoorie. The company incorporated in Hong Kong and its capital was divided in shares of 10 candareens each. In imperial China, 10 candareens equaled 1 mace which was ​one tenth of a tael. Eleazor Silas Kadoorie imprisoned in 1942 by the Japanese died 2 years later in prison. L97 in the auction.

Make sure you check out more appealing scripophily online. Here are the details :

• Location : this is an Internet only sale
• Date : Apr 16 15:00 - May 05 11:00.
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

Belgian Association for Scripophily exists 40 years

The Belgian Association for Scripophily, in French: Association Belge de Scriptophilie (ABS), in Dutch : Belgische Vereniging van Scriptophilie (BVS), is a non-profit society that was founded 40 years ago in 1980. Ever since, the society's members gather once a month, to share news and discuss findings in our field of collection.

Two years ago member Denis Sagaert took the initiative to publish a free scripophily newsletter. More than reason enough to have a talk with him ! For the occassion, Denis choose the images for this post.

Alfred Van Neste (1874-1969) created the design for the founders share in the Société Anversoise de Cartonnages & Biseautages. The company, founded in 1899, was a book producer and publishing company from Antwerp. Van Neste, a landscape painter, illustrator and engraver, became one of Antwerp's most known poster designers. Click the image to enlarge and discover several illustrations from stages in early book production. The drawings are so prominent that the Art Nouveau elements in the border nearly escape our attention. Just below the rooster in the upper left corner you'll find 'SACB', the company's cypher (an interlacing or placing together of letters).

FL Denis, welcome to our virtual studio. How did you become a collector of antique securities ?

Denis I bought my first old shares in 2004 at a flea market in Brussels. As an  asset manager I was already very familiar with bonds and shares, but I had no clue about 'scripophily'. Two years later, I read a newspaper article written by the chairman of the Belgian society. I then became a member.

FL Do you collect certain themes ? 

Denis Yes, my main themes are Belgian-Russian shares, Belgian tramways and Belgian mining companies.

The Solvay company is a global player in the chemical and pharmaceutical business. The brothers Ernest Solvay and Alfred Solvay founded the company in 1863 to produce sodium carbonate by the Solvay proces. The vignette on the left is derived from the company's 50th anniverary medal made in 1913 by Belgian sculptor and medalist Victor Rousseau. In 1938 a similar, much larger bronze plaque made by Rousseau, was delivered for the Solvay memorial monument in Rebecq, the birthplace of the brothers. This bearer share dates from 1967, the year of Solvay's first public offering of shares to the public.

FL Denis, can you tell something about ABS/BVS ?

Denis Our association was founded in 1980 when scripophily was still a young hobby. ABS/BVS is a non-profit organization. Once a month we gather in Jezus-Eik, close to Brussels, and hold an auction for members. Occasionally, non-members are allowed to take part in a special auction either on-site or through submission of email bids. Also, people who still own some old cancelled bonds and shares, can contact our chairman for value estimations. They can also consign their 'non-valeurs' for sale at the club auction.

FL How many members does the society has ? 

Denis We have about 25 members.

FL I've seen that the newsletter is mainly written in French. Do most members speak French ?

Denis There are a little more French speakers. We have a small group of members from France! But there is no big difference with the number of Dutch speakers.

Banker André Langrand-Dumonceau founded in 1863 the Banque de Crédit Foncier et Industriel. From the 1850s through the 1860s Langrand-Dumonceau tried to build a major Catholic financial group in Europe to counterbalance the so-perceived Jewish dominance in the financial sector. He became manager of tens of financial companies. He founded Royale Belge, one of the largest Belgian insurance companies. Pope Pius IX, King Leopold of Belgium, Napoleon III of France, and other European notables supported Langrand-Dumonceau's activities. However, by 1870, his financial empire collapsed and he fled to the USA. Langrand-Dumonceau signed this 1863 certificate for 20 shares of 500 Francs. 

FL Denis, the society has an interesting website. What does it offer ?

Denis The site hosts a very extensive online database of antique securities (*). Of course, you can find information about our club and our hobby. In case of a 'special auction', we put the auction catalog online as well.
(*) Editor's note: you can search among more than 40,000 bonds and shares

FL You decided to publish a newsletter. What is it about ?

Denis We have a lots of resources on Belgian business histories, like the Moniteur and Recueil Financier year books. We bring topics on Belgian scripophily. In cases where a foreign company has a Belgian connection, eg. through its shareholders, then we might bring topics on foreign corporations too. In all cases, the content should be a combination of financial history and known bonds and shares.

FL Denis, was there a particular reason to start the newsletter ?

Denis Well, in the first place, we hope our members find it interesting, but publishing a newsletter is also a great way to give visibility to our association. The number of collectors in Belgium is diminishing. Hopefully, we can attract new members with this project.

L'Ikelemba was an agricultural and trading company, especially in rubber. The company's assets were located in the Ikelemba river bassin, in today's Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Lithographie du "Messager de Bruxelles" produced this share from 1898, a great example of a chromolithograph. Instead of using techniques like intaglio printing (e.g. engraving) or raised relief (wood-cut), this printing process was based on a flat surface printing method. The drawing was made on a special stone. By means of chemicals, ink was attracted by the drawing and repelled from the surrounding areas. In the case of multiple colors, separate stones were used for each color. A single print went through the press separately for each 'color' stone. The big challenge was to keep the resulting color prints aligned to form a unified image.  

FL I can't resist asking the next question, I'm a bad person, but what is your favorite certificate ? 

Denis Hm ... one of my favorites is a L'Ikelemba, action de dividende, from 1898 and extremely decorative.

FL Denis, I want to thank you for this interview and wish you success with the newsletter. 

Related links

• Interested collectors can subscribe to the free ABS/BVS newsletter by contacting the society at scripophilybe@gmail.com 
• Association Belge de Scripophilie (ABS), Belgische Vereniging van Scriptophilie (BVS) 

F.L.

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 .

Under the volcano

The smallest volcano in Mexico is the Cuexcomate, with an elevation of only 13 meters (43 feet).  This inactive volcano is regarded as the smallest one on Earth. As a tourist you can visit it and even descend into the 8 meter wide crater. The Pico de Orizaba, is the largest Mexican volcano with a height of 5636 meters (18490 feet). Its last eruption took place in 1687. After the African Kilimanjaro it is the 2nd most prominent volcanic peak in the world. Did you know that Mexico counts more than 40 volcanoes ?   In the last 25 years no less than 5 different volcanoes erupted :

1982 El Chichón

1986 Tacaná
1993 Socorro
2006 Popocatepetl
2009 Colima

For sure, volcanic eruptions are part of life in Mexico now and they were so in the past. The $100 share of the Compañia Guayulera Mexicano, dated 1906, shows a Guayule planter at rest on a hot windless afternoon. A large volcano dominates the setting.