Cruising the Nile in the winter

At the age 17, mystery novel author Agatha Christie spent the winter of 1907–1908 with her mother in Egypt. They stayed for three months at the Gezirah Palace hotel in Cairo, participated in social events and visited some of Egypts ancient monuments. 

Christie would visit Egypt again later, and write several Egypt-set novels, including Death on the Nile featuring detective Hercule Poirot.

The Nile Express Steamers Co. 

5 founder shares, Cairo, 1906  

Printed in Cairo by Baader & Gross 

The Express Nile Steamers Company (ENSCo) was organized in April 1906 with a capital of 30000 Egyptian pounds. The company offered Nile cruises to rich Westerners, and Britons in particular. ENSCo's trip from Cairo to Luxor took 7 days, back in 4.5 days. And within a year the route was extended from Luxor to Aswan taking another two days.

ENSCo's first ship was launched at Giza on 14 Nov 1906. Miss Bassie Ems, the daughter of the company's director general, baptised the 'America' graciously. The triple decked vessel with cabins for 54 first-class passengers featured saloons for dining and smoking. Passengers enjoyed the Nile views behind glass windows that shielded them from wind and cold. 

In 1908 Baedeker publishes its Egypt and The Sudan, Handbook for Travellers. The book includes tips for traveling aboard a Nile steamer: 

"Passengers by steamer should beware of the risk of catching cold by leaving the windows of their cabin open ; and it is well to remember (e.g. when shaving) that the steamers sometimes run aground, especially above Luxor. Liability to delay through this last fact makes it impossible to be sure of reaching Cairo in time to make connection with the ocean-steamers."

Exciting times, if you ask me! I wonder whether Agatha Christie got bored on her three-month stay. I would have gone on a cruise. Did she? Well, that's a question that only Mr Hercule Poirot could solve. 

Merry Christmas!

F.L.

References

Launch of the America, Egyptian Gazette (1906-11-15) 

Egypt and the Sûdân; handbook for travellers, 1914, Karl Baedeker 

Previous posts

• Showcasing your services: The Hindusthan Safe Deposit Company 
• The Case of the Missing Farmers – Egyptologist traces back Crédit Agricole d’Égypte vignettes 

Collecting antique stock certificates ? Go to the next level with Scripophily magazine !

Scripophily magazine is the world’s most comprehensive and insightful publication for passionate collectors and researchers of antique securities. Its 2022 April issue brings over 50 pages of scripophily news, in depth articles, book reviews, pictures of collector friends, auction reports and quality images of stunning, historic and rare stocks and bonds.

Scripophily magazine is illustrated with tons of gorgious stock certificates. This one from The Cincinnati Edison Electric Company is featured in the Deutsche Bank trilogy (© HIWEPA). The company was incorporated in the state of Ohio. Its $1 million capital was represented by 10,000 shares of $100. This certificate, issued in 1892 to the Deutsche Bank of Berlin, for 3,333 1/3 shares, represents a third of the capital. Image by Horst Klophaus 

Compelling tales, business plot twists and memorable personalities keep you spellbound. Scripophily magazine uncovers the stories of historic and artistic securities. In addition, reports from the auction markets help you to stay up-to-date. This periodical is the flagship of The International Bond and Share Society (IBSS) and appears three times a year.

Here is a summary on the topics brought in the latest issue :

• Piers and Seaside Entertainment, interview with a collector 
• Book review : Stamp Taxes in Nevada I. Silver Fever! Nevada Territory Stock Certificates, 1863-4, author Michael Mahler 
• Book review : Michigan Copper Mining Stocks and Bonds, Part II, author Lee Degood
• El Partido Revolucionario Cubano, a rare but fake bond emerged 
• The Insanity Spreads, NFT technology flirts with Scripophily 
• Dispatches from the Front, Bits and Pieces, market concerns with the Russo-Ukrainian War 
• The Greenawalt Donation : Interview with David Mihaly of the Huntington Library 
• Charles V Bond with phenomenal Face Value emerges (Spain)
• Standing on the Shoulders of Giants, Terry Cox reflects on his US railway project coxrail.com 
• The Howe Sound Co, copper mining in British Columbia 
• Selling the Security, member contributions with share certificates promoting the business 
• Studebaker, the family, stocks and bonds, and legacy
• Deutsche Bank Part I : The History of "Deutsche Bank AG"
• Boomtimes in the German Sugar Industry : 1850-1885 

On top of that the issue brings results and analysis on more than 20 auctions that took place during the preceding period in Germany, USA, China, Switzerland, UK, and other countries. You'll find out which auctions took place, what collecting themes are currently in demand and what price results are achieved for top pieces.

Subscribing to Scripophily magazine brings you valuable free extras: 

1. The IBSS Directory brings you in contact with fellow collectors. Many of those are experts in their field, often share common interests with you, and possibly live nearby. The Directory contains members from more than 40 countries. 
2. Upcoming events : Learn which auctions, collector bourses and society meetings will take place.
3. Locate dealers and auctioneers : The Membership Directory also contains a list of dealers and auctioneers with further contact details. Most  auctioneers and dealers publish their catalogues either online or on paper.
4. Access to the Experts : Being part of the International Bond and Share Society (IBSS) has provided me access to a network of experts in a variety of specialties related to the collection of Stocks and Bonds, always willing to led a hand and point me in the right direction.
5. Access to all content on the IBSS website, including digital versions of previous issues of Scripophily magazine, the online forum, special theme galleries, and the like. 
6. Newsflashes on the website focus on hot topics that can't wait for the next issue of the magazine. 
7. Get extra credibility : being listed as a member is a good reference in any deals made remotely with parties previously unknown. 

A 1-year subscription only costs £25 or $35 or €28. The magazine is published by IBSS. More info : https://scripophily.org/membership/join/ 

F.L.

Related links

• International Bond and Share Society 
• What is Scripophily, a quick introduction 

Scripophily Puzzle No. 6 - solution

I'm sure you recognized the Disney vignette as one of the three visual cues from Puzzle No. 6 . Even with the other vignettes provided, solving the puzzle was not straightforward. Yet I did receive one correct answer.

The three visual cues were clippings from three different stock and bond certificates. The common link between the cues was a particular object.

The correct answer for the puzzle was ... (drumm roll in the background) ... the Liberty Bell.

Shares from the American Union Fire Insurance Company from Philadelphia, PA, show the Liberty Bell in front of the city's Independence Hall. Printed by the Security Bank Note Company, this share certificate was issued in 1910. Things were not going well for the insurance company. It liquidated in 1913. 

The Liberty Bell was made in Great Britain by a foundry that became known as Whitechapel Bell Foundry, a producer of many famous bells such as the Big Ben in London.

Pennsylvania commissioned the Liberty Bell in 1751 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of William Penn's Charter of Privileges, Pennsylvania's original constitution. After a rough passage across the Atlantic, the bell cracked when it was first rung.

Two Philadelphia workmen, John Pass and John Stow, recasted the bell. Its large distinctive crack, also visible in the vignette above, originated somewhere in the first part of the 19th century. The bell was placed in the tower of the Pennsylvania State House, aka Independence Hall. This leads us to the first cue.

These bonds, issued by the City of Philadelphia in 1866 (upper right image) and 1861, feature the same vignettes, including the city's Independence Hall that housed the Liberty Bell for about two centuries. It is now located in the Liberty Bell Center. This pair of bonds was sold at Holabird Americana's Dec 2020 auction at $50 without buyer's premium. 

The bell became a symbol of freedom. In the 1830s several anti-slavery journals featured the bell in their publications. In 1853 President Franklin Pierce visited Philadelphia. He spoke of the bell as the symbol of the American Revolution and Liberty.

George Lippard writes his "Fourth of July, 1776" in 1847. In that story a young boy instructed an aged bellman to ring the bell on America's Independence Day. But that was not correct. Historians assume that the Liberty Bell rang on July 8th to summon the people to hear the Declaration of Independence read out aloud for the first time. Anyway, Lippard's story was widely reprinted and retold as 'historical fact' for many decades to come.

On the occasion of Philadelphia's 1876 Centennial International Exhibition a replica of the Liberty Bell was cast. It weighed 13,000 pounds (5900 kg), more than six times the weight of the original bell.

The Liberty Bell was not displayed at Philadelphia's Centennial Exhibition. But it made several trips to various other expositions and celebrations in the years thereafter. This brings us to the second cue of puzzle No. 6.

The World's Columbian Exposition, aka Chicago's World Fair, took place in 1893 to mark the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the New World in 1492. With 46 countries participating, it attracted over 27 million visitors. This $10 shares certificate from 1893 was printed by the Western Bank Note Company. It sold for $400 excluding buyer's premium in Holabird Americana's 2018 October auction. 

In 1893 the Liberty Bell was sent to Chicago's World Columbian Exposition as a highlight of the festivities. It was not the only big bell on display there.

For the World's Columbia exhibition a much larger Columbian Liberty Bell was casted. Two days before the end of the exhibition, Chicago's Mayor Carter Harrison sounded his "new" bell at his final speech on 28 Oct 1893. A few hours later Harrison was assassinated.

The original Liberty Bell returned from Chicago bearing a new crack. Wherever it went, the bell attracted millions of people, more cracking occurred, and souvenir hunters chipped pieces away from it. After 1915 Philadelphia refused any further requests for having the bell featured in events like that.

There was also a third "bell" present at the Chicago event. It was a full-sized model of the Liberty Bell made out of oranges by the State of California. This brings us to our last cue for this puzzle which showed Walt Disney and several Disney figures.

In Holabird Americana's May 2021 auction this Walt Disney stock certificate went $120 excluding buyer's premium. The company displays a full-sized replica of the Liberty Bell in Walt Disney World, Florida. 

As part of the US Liberty Bell Savings Bond Drive, the US government ordered 55 full-sized replicas of the Liberty Bell in 1950. These were casted by Fonderie Paccard in France. Shipped as gifts to US states and territories the bells were to be displayed and rung on patriotic occasions. 

In 1989 Walt Disney ordered another bell casted by the same foundry from the same mold. It stands now on Liberty Square in the Magic Kingdom, Bay Lake, Florida.

The Liberty Bell sometimes appears on coins, stamps, bonds and stock certificates. I'm interested to see other examples from the latter category. Several American corporations have used the bell's name and image, but none so daringly as the restaurant chain Taco Bell.

On April 1, 1996, Taco Bell launched an ad in the newspapers posting that it had purchased the Liberty Bell and renamed it the "Taco Liberty Bell". Thousands of outraged people had called Taco Bell headquarters and the bell's caretaker, the National Park Service. By noon it was told that the story was a joke. The company's publicity stunt allegedly led to nearly a $1,000,000 rise in sales that week.

I received one joint correct answer on this puzzle from Randy & Scott. Well done! You are now entitled a portion of "eternal fame".

F.L.

Reference links

• worldsfairchicago1893.com, a great resource on Chicago's 1893 World's Fair 
• National Park Service 

Previous posts

• An Albatros from Ukraine
• Use alternative search terms when searching digital publications 

International auction & bourse weekend in Antwerp shows amazing historic securities and scripophily collections

A major player in the field of antique stock certificates, auctioneer Mario Boone scheduled his 68th scripophily auction and bourse on 30 April and 1 May 2022. On the agenda are about 1400 scripophily lots ready to go on the block. Boone managed to assemble exceptional rare and beautiful stocks and bonds from all continents. 

Part of the offerings are several thematic collections containing exceptional items. One of them is the Portuguese Railways collection consisting of 126 lots of Portuguese and Portuguese colonial railway certificates. The collection formed the basis of the 1990 published Boone-Shakespeare catalog on Spanish and Portuguese railway scripophily and it was further enlarged with new discoveries. Bidders will first have the opportunity to bid on the entire collection as a whole. Start price is set at €18,000. In case no bid is achieved, the auctioneer presents the lots one by one.

Founded in 1908 the Companhia Carris de Ferro do Porto operated the Porto tramways. This 5 shares of Rs10$00 certificate from 1909, only one known, shows a perspective of the Dom Luís I Bridge taken from Vila Nova de Gaia. Part of the Portuguese railway collection, Lot 617 (L618-L744). 

The Boone sale includes many highlights from the turbulent 18th century! That century saw the great powers waging several wars and expanding slave trading across the Atlantic but also the founding of Los Angeles, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, the premiere of Mozart's Don Giovanni, and the invention of the steamboat and the power loom. Some of the historical items from this period are : 

• L409 is a 2500 livres share from the Compagnie des Indes from 1770
• From 1797, L285, a share from the Natur-Torfgräber Unternehmung zu Moosbrunn, a peat digging company in Lower Austria, is probably the oldest Austro-Hungarian share known.
• The most mind-blowing lot in the sale, L516, is a 1777 founder share from the Iron Bridge company. Boone expects it to hammer at €18,000. 

This share in the Company for Building a Bridge across the River Severn, Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, dates from 1777. Opened in 1781, it was the first major bridge in the world to be made of cast iron. The share is signed by Abraham Darby III and John Wilkinson. 

Darby took over the iron-making business of his family. He became manager of the Coalbrookdale ironworks. The Darbys and other ironmasters like John Wilkinson perfected the technique of smelting iron with coke, instead of coal. This allowed them to produce cheaper and more cast iron. They started casting iron rails and wheels for railway wagons. 

John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson invented a precision boring machine that could bore cast iron cylinders such as cannon barrels and piston cylinders used in steam engines. In 1787 he launched on the Severn an iron ship. In 1775 Wilkinson and local businessmen commissioned Abraham Darby III to build the Iron Bridge. 

Thanks to the bridge, its builders and their achievements, the area around Ironbridge is described by UNESCO as the "Birthplace of the Industrial Revolution". The monument gave its name to the town that grew around it. The Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust runs 10 museums throughout the IronBridge Gorge World Heritage Site; they tell the story of the Industrial Revolution. 

Signatures of Abraham Darby III and John Wilkinson. 

Few people have had such a lasting impact on modern society. L516 

Another remarkable collection offered in the auction are 78 Panorama certificates. Before the advent of cinema audiences could visit a panorama or diorama attraction. Often implemented as large winding 360-degree paintings, and sometimes constructed as mobile attractions or in specialized theatres, these immersed the viewer in large topographic landscape views and historical events. The collection as a whole can be purchased, L9, starting at €8,000. In case no bid is achieved, the auctioneer presents the lots one by one, L10-87.

The Panorama collection includes attractions from Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, France, the USA and more. This share in the French Royal London Panorama company dates from 1881. The company built its panorama in the former Saville House, Leicester Square, London, where it showed the battle of Waterloo. L65 

The printed catalog contains several indexes to help you find what you are looking for. The online versions can be searched by keywords. The largest country represented this time is the USA and, including a Confederate Bonds collection, counts over 300 lots. Many non-typical scripophily countries are represented as well such as Fiji, Pakistan, Kenya, San Marino and Uruguay.

One of the lots mentioned under the "Sports" index, L927, is a 1923 share in the Autodrómo Nacional SA. Founded in 1922 the company built and operated the Terramar Autodrome, a racing circuit in Sant Pere de Ribes, Catalonia, Spain. In 1923 Alberto Divo won the first race with his Sunbeam at an average of 142 kilometers per hour. 

Even if you are not a collector the weekend of 30 April & 1 May is an opportunity to see some great antique securities. The venue is the Antwerp Crown Plaza. An airport shuttle from Brussels Airport to Antwerp (about 30 minutes) stops in front of the hotel. The public bus stops right outside the place and takes you in 10 minutes to Antwerp Central Station. 

Here are the auction details :

• Location : Antwerp, Belgium
• Dates
• 30 April 2022, Boone's 68th live and internet auction
• 1 May 2022, bourse of historic bonds and shares
• Further info : 
• online catalog & bidding, see here 
• or via the Invaluable platform (large images), see there 
• and the PDF version of the catalog can be found here 

F.L.

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

Scripophily Puzzle No. 4 - solution

In Puzzle No. 4 we were looking for a novel. This time, three scripophily detectives gave the correct answer. "A bit too easy" I was told. 

In order to solve the puzzle, I provided you two visual cues : details from the designs of a bond and a share certificate. Let's have a look at them.

The first image shows a logo consisting of the interlaced letters W and L flanked by two lions and a banner underneath. The banner shows some words. Click the image to enlarge it. You can't distinguish all the words but Compagnie, des, Lits and Européens must be clear.

Googling these words brings up links to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. In the Google Images results pane you'll find a similar logo, and likely, an image of one of the company's bond certificates like the one shown here.

The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, in short CIWL, was founded by the Belgian Georges Nagelmackers in 1872. His business pioneered in luxurious on-train catering and sleeping car services. CIWL operated the famous long-distance Orient Express that originally ran from Paris to Constantinople (Istanbul).

The second image shows a fragment from a share certificate. We can read [H]ôtel de Constantinople, and you can also detect a stamp that mentions Société Française des Grands Hotels Internationaux. All-knowing Google tells us that we are talking about the Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul. 

The Pera Palace was built in 1892 for the CIWL. The company needed a suitable hotel at the final destination of its Orient Express. Among its famous guests were : Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Ernest Hemingway, Queen Elizabeth II, Alfred Hitchcock and Jacqueline Kennedy.

Using the words Wagons-Lits and book, or even novel, in your next Google search yields many results to multiple publications. So does Pera Palace combined with the words book or novel. Obviously, both are popular subjects.

A better idea was to search for the combination of all these words : Wagons-Lits, Pera Palace and novel, or, even better, Orient Express and novel. The outcome leads you to the solution : Murder on the Orient Express, a novel written by the English writer Agatha Christie.

Christie's famous book appeared in 1934. It brings the story of Hercule Poirot, a Belgian detective, who returns from the Middle East on the Orient Express. The train is stopped by heavy snowfall and a murder is discovered. Poirot's trip home to London is interrupted to solve the murder.

Agatha Christie stayed on several occasions at the Pera Palace from 1926 through 1932. It is said that she wrote there Murder on the Orient Express in her favored room, 411. Did you know you can still book her room for your stay in Istanbul ? 

Did Agatha Christie ever travel on the Orient Express ? As a matter of fact, yes, she did, more than once. Her first journey on the Orient Express was in late 1928, only a few months before a blizzard, near Cherkeskoy, Turkey, stranded another Orient Express for six days. And in December 1931, when Christie returned from her husband's archaeological dig at Nineveh, aboard an Orient Express, sections of railway track were washed away by heavy rainfall flooding. 

In scripophily, we have seen bonds and shares that were issued to or signed by famous authors like Ernest Hemingway and Mark Twain. Wouldn't it be a baffling mystery if a share issued to Agatha Christie would turn up in suspicious circumstances ?

To conclude, scripophily detectives DB and RS provided a correct answer, but is was SC who was the first to solve puzzle no 4.  Great job everyone. You are now entitled a portion of "eternal fame".

F.L.

PS 

• A nice collection of Wagons-Lits scripophily can be seen here on Scripocollections.com 
• Read about the Royal Mint's commemorative coin of Agatha Christie on CoinsWeekly 

 

Previous posts

• Poll results - Collecting motives 
• Watermarks in scripophily - introduction 

Spink UK sells Branston Railway Museum gems

SPINK's Bonds and Shares Department has put its first sale of 2019 online with a new look and functionality. The auctioneer offers over 500 antique securities including a large collection of scarce bonds and shares belonging to the Branston Railway Museum. The online auction ends at 11 AM GMT on Jan 25, 2019.

Three 500 Francs bonds from the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez make their entrance at the sale, lots 7-9. The famous Suez Canal Company was founded in 1858 by Ferdinand de Lesseps (1805-94). These bonds from 1885 have the printed signature of the wealthy Prince Auguste Louis Albéric d'Arenberg (1837-1924), then President of the company. Prince d'Arenberg's son Ernest, Lieutenant in France's 32nd Infantry Regiment, was killed on the battle fields of WWI on March 21, 1915. 

The SPINK sale presents over 500 lots of historic and beautiful stocks and bond certificates from all continents representing more than 50 countries. Some examples :

• L(ot) 87 Hiroshima Spinning and Weaving Co, Meiji 15 (1882), rare Japanese scripophily
• L81 Mongolia State Loan, group lot of 7 Mongolian state bonds from the 1950s
• L130 Portuguese Loan 5% £100 Sterling 1823, early state loan from Portugal
• L146 Trans-Alaska-Siberian Railway Company, 1906, the company was authorized by Czar Nicholas II of Russia to build a tunnel from Alaska to Russia

Collectors of Canadian scripophily will be surprised to find a 50 lots counting section, including this £100 bond from 1895 in The Atlantic and Lake Superior Railway Company (with beaver vignette), L421.

The British chapter consists of several sections such as canals, government, railways, etc. One of the early certificates is an amazing River Nene Navigation Join Stock from 1762 with nine wax seals and one lead seal, L312. Other interesting earlies : Itchen Bridge and Roads, 1835, arms of Southampton, wax seal, L354, and Durham County Coal Company from 1838, shield of Durham, L352.

This share in the North of Scotland and Orkney and Shetland Steam Navigation Company (NSOS) represents a milestone in shipping and tourism history. The certificate was issued in 1882 to Alexander Hall Wilson, director of Aberdeen shipbuilder Hall, Russell & Company, Limited. The NSOS introduced Norwegian cruising in 1886. It was a profitable operation from the start. To meet further demand the company ordered a new ship, the St. Sunniva. No surprise, it was built by Hall Russell. The St. Sunniva was the world's first purpose-built cruise ship and was a great success. 
L331 in the auction.

Several rare British government bonds are part of the offerings. L307 is a specimen 5% National War Bond 1918-1928, unseen in issued form. A great vignette of the Houses of Parliament with Big Ben adorns a specimen £50 Treasury Bond from 1925, L311.

This Blackpool and Lytham Railway Company share from 1861 is extremely rare. Embossed company seal with lighthouse in the lower left corner. From the Branston Railway Museum Collection, L173 in the auction.

The auction features the scripophily collection of railways, tramways and canals, assembled by the Branston Railway Museum, L164 to L300. The private museum is being closed and its collections disposed of during the year. Some of the many noteworthy lots in this collection are : L165 Oakham Canal, L170 Belfast and Northern Counties Railway Company and L200 Fleetwood, Preston & West Riding Junction Railway Company.

This Isle of Man Tramways and Electric Power Company share, issued 1900, with the island's triskelion coat of arms, is part of a group lot of four certificates, estimated at £70-£90.

You can find more of these fascinating stocks and bonds in the SPINK online catalogue. Here are the auction details :

• date : 25 Jan 2019, 11:00 AM
• location : online auction
• online catalogue and further info, see here  

F.L.


What is Scripophily ?, a quick introduction   

HWPH to sell TUI precursor at public auction

Historisches Wertpapierhaus AG is a major auction house when it comes to antique stock and bond certificates. The team around Matthias Schmitt kicks of the New Year with two consecutive sales. 

The first sale is a live auction at Würzburg, Germany, on 20th Jan 2018, followed two days later by an online auction. Both sales offer nearly 2400 lots of historic and beautiful antique stock and bond certificates from all continents. One of the many highlights is a share from Norddeutscher Lloyd, precursor of the multinational TUI Group.

An impressive vignette shows one of Norddeutscher Lloyd's transatlantic steam ships. 

On top of the second mast, the company flag is waving, barely recognizable. 

Click the image for more details. The flag shows a crossed anchor and key with an oak leaf wreath. 

The anchor represents the sea and the wreath stands for a united Germany. 

The key is the key of the Freie Hansestadt Bremen. 

The emblem is incorporated three more times in the share's design, see the image below.

TUI Group owns travel agencies, retail stores, hotels, cruise ships and airlines. It is one of the largest travel and tourism companies in the world. TUI's current name was adopted in 2002 but before that, it was called Preussag AG. Oddly enough, Preussag was originally a mining and foundry company.

Norddeutscher Lloyd was formed by merchants from Bremen in 1856. NLD's cargo and passenger transport activities growed as a result of emigration. The company started operating routes to England and the USA, and by the end of the 19th century to the Mediterranean, the Far East and Australia. Because of the Boxer Rebellion in China, Kaiser Wilhelm II seized in 1900 14 of NLD's ships for the transport of German troops.

Norddeutscher LLoyd 

1000 Mark share, Bremen, 1923 

printed by Giesecke & Devrient 

lot 552 in the auction, click to enlarge 

After both World War's large parts of NLD's fleet were either confiscated or destroyed. The company had to rebuild its business twice. After cooperating with the Hamburg-Amerikanische Packetfahrt-Actien-Gesellschaft (HAPAG) since the 1930s, both companies would merge in 1970 to form Hapag-LLoyd. 

Remember Preussag, our industrial conglomerate. That company transformed itself into a transport and tourism company after purchasing Hapag-Lloyd in 1997. Preussag changed its name into TUI in 2002. 

You can find more of these fascinating stocks and bonds in HWPH's sale catalogues. Here are the auction details :

• Dates
• 20 January 2018, Würzburg, Germany, public auction
• 22 January 2018, online auction
• Further info see here on HWPH. 

F.L.

Spink US Jan 2017 auction

Spink US is announcing details of their upcoming Numismatic Collector's Series Sale. The auction features more than 1,000 lots of coins, banknotes, medals, and the like. Over sixty lots of scripophily items are included, mainly consisting of US stocks and bonds. Four of these comprise historic Matson Navigation Company securities.

William Matson (1849-1917) was a Swedish-born American shipping executive. As a youngster he became friends with the industrialist and sugar beet refiner Claus Spreckels while working on the latter's family yacht. With the help of Spreckels, Matson founded in 1882 his own shipping business, the Matson Navigation Company. Its ships carried merchandise from the US Pacific Coast to the Hawaiian islands and returned with sugar. In the early 1900s Matson introduced passenger lines to Hawaii where he soon opened hotels. Its luxurious Matson Airlines operated between San Francisco and Hawaii (1946-1948).

.

The collector's market knows a few types of historic Matson Navigation Company shares. These show vignettes of the company's important ships :

• The company's blue $100 shares (capital $1,500,000) were issued when the company incorporated in 1901. They illustrate a vignette of the barque Roderick Dhu, the first ship to have a cold storage and electric plant with electric lights on board. 

• Shortly before World War I, the company increases its capital to $5,000,000. Matson's brown $100 shares depict the SS Lurline (1908),  the company's first steamer. 

• Spink US now offers four lots, each consisting of about 500 stock certificates issued in the 1940s and 1950s. Printed in green and black by the Western Bank Note & Eng. Co. Chicago, their design show the brigantine Lurline (I) purchased by Matson in 1887. Coming from Hawaii the ship carried 600 tons of sugar and 12 passengers.

Details of the auction

• Dates: 17 & 18 Jan 2017
• Location : New York
• More info : see here 

F.L.

Innovative service for first-class collections

Last year, the Centrum voor Scriptofilie (or Scripophily Center in English) announced SCRIPOCOLLECTIONS.com : an online service for its customers. This is not just another online web presence. On the contrary, Mario Boone, director of the company, came up with a new, innovative way of handling third-party collections online. Worthwile to write a few lines about it.

Read on, when

a) you are an advanced collector and it has become difficult to complete your collection
b) or, you need to sell your collection in its entirety
c) or, you are looking for an interesting investment opportunity

How does SCRIPOCOLLECTIONS.com meet these needs ? Well, the service offers an Internet platform to display collections from collectors who :

1. wish to receive offers for missing pieces
2. wish to sell their collection in their entirety
3. a combination of both the above.

The role of the service provider is supportive: 

• making a digital inventory of the collection
• optionally scanning shares and bonds
• display a collection online
• estimate the collection
• finding a buyer for the entire collection
• mediate between the customer and potential sellers of new entries of a collection
• ensuring customer's privacy by default
• et cetera

You are correct when you say that these kind of activities are common practises for auctioneers and antique dealers. But, at least to my knowledge, it is the first time I see this implemented by means of a web platform targeting the world wide public.

Possibly there is something in it for you, I mean even when you are not planning to put your collection online. Do you have a bond or share certificate for sale that can supplement one of these collections ? Contact the Scripophily Center, maybe your piece finds a new home. 

More info available on SCRIPOCOLLECTIONS.com.

Below are some images from the collections currently on display.

F.L.

Staeten van Vlaenderen

Loan 2400 Gulden, 1780

issued to Bisschoppelijk Seminarie van Brugge

(Episcopal Seminary of Bruges)

- Bruges collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Corpus Christi Ship Channel Company

Shares of $100 each, 1859

- US Canals collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Société de l'Exposition Dioramique 

Le Pelerinage de Jerusalem à Montmartre

Share of 100 Francs, 1887

- Panoramas collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Companhia Carris de Ferro do Porto

5 Shares of 10$000, 1908

- Portuguese Railroads collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Belgian Congo

Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga

4% Bond of 100 Francs, 1911

- Belgian Congo Railroads collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Charbonnages de Limbourg-Meuse S.A.

Share of 500 Francs, 1949

- Coalmines from Limburg (Belgium) collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Compagnie Internationale des 

Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens

5 Ordinary shares of 500 Francs, printer proof, 1954

- Wagons-Lits collection -

source: www.scripocollections.com

Société de l'Union pour les Productions Agricole

Share

- Egypt collection -

More about this top collection, see here .

source: www.scripocollections.com

N.B. Other online collections can be seen here.

Book : Edouard Empain

Edouard Empain, Belgian captain of industry, is known for building the Paris Métro and the district of Heliopolis in Cairo. In this book, author Jacques Simar brings us the story of Baron Empain and an overview of the industrial empire that Empain built up all over the world.

double-click to enlarge image

from left to right:
Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi
The Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oases Company
Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs Africains
Compagnie de Chemin de Fer Métropolitain de Paris

background:
Edouard Empain ( 1852 - 1929 )

• Title : Edouard Empain, Esprit Fécond, Entrepreneur Conquérant, English : Edouard Empain, a first rank entrepreneur from Belgium
• Author : Jacques Simar
• ID : no ISBN number, published by The Scripophily Center, 2013, see here
• Languages : French, but a good summary in English and Dutch is provided
• Number of pages : 107
• Images : about 100 color images

Chapters

1. Premières années et premiers défis 1852 - 1881  (English: first years and first challenges)
2. Développement de l' empire 1879 - 1929 (development of the business empire)
3. Le système Empain ( the Empain system )
4. La collection des titres Empain ( the collection of Empain scripophily )
5. Summary in Dutch
6. Summary in English
7. Remerciements (Thanks)
8. Annexes : sociétés du groupe Empain ( Appendices : companies of the Empain group )
9. Source des illustrations ( source of illustrations )
10. Notes

Chapter 2, being the largest one, gives us an overview of the activities and realizations of Empain's  companies in the Ottoman Empire, Chili, Syria, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, China, Belgian Congo and, of course, Belgium, France and Egypt.

The book is richly illustrated with images of shares and bonds of companies active in railways, banking, metal works, electric power, gas distribution, chemical industry, tourism and hotels, canals, real estate, shipping and mining. Several of the certificates depicted are very rare.

What else is there in the book ? Well, the work includes also : 

• an overview diagram of the Empain family dynasty
• several maps : routes of the Tramways du Caire, the concession of the Cairo Electric Railways and Heliopolis Oasis company, the railway network of Belgian Congo, routes of the Lung-Hai railway in northern China
• long term stock charts of companies
• classifications of the companies in the Empain group by country and in chronological order

A reference catalogue as well

Chapter 4 contains a reference catalogue section. Included are the stocks and bonds of the Empain companies surfaced in scripophily so far.  More than 500 securities from about 110 companies are represented  and ordered by country. Interesting, each entry contains a value indication between 1 and 5.

A book that fits in your laptop bag. Top !

Still available from the publisher, see here, at 30 Euro.

F.L.

NB : 
What is your favorite share depicted in the book ?
Mine is the 500 Francs bond from 1895 issued by the Tramways de Kischinew.

A share in the Carlton affair

The Carlton Hotel, a French hotel, became recently a hot topic in several international newspapers. The case, called the Carlton affair, involved high-profile figures booking rooms with some "extras" (prostitutes). You can read all about that here and there .

Société Anonyme du Carlton
Action de 500 Francs, Lille, 1927
Printed by Lith. L. Nuez
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The hotel was built after World War I with the financial help of the British Carlton hotel group in the center of the city of Lille. During World War II it was partly destroyed. Currently the hotel counts 60 rooms and suites. The Coupole Suite, 100 sqm space, located in the dome offers a panoramic view and much more and can be seen here.

Facade of Hotel Carlton
source Wikipedia France

The facade of the hotel is also depicted in the underprint of the Carlton share.
An ordinary scan could not sufficiently reveal enough details from the subtle tinted image.
In order to bias the subject, the contrast of the original image was strongly reduced.

In 2007, the hotel became part of the Hotels & Preference hotel group and in 2010 the Carlton was used as a location for the movie Pour solde de tout compte . According to Europe1, the current scandal and its media coverage generates extra interest in the hotel.

F.L.

Golden Gate Ostrich Farm

The unique scene of plucking ostriches will be seen tomorrow afternoon at 3 o'clock at the Golden Gate ostrich farm, Forty-seventh avenue and Balboa street. The plumes are clipped about three inches from the body, the bird being blindfolded. The operation is painless. The two largest birds at the farm are Bob Fitzsimmons, the $5000 beauty, and William Jennings Bryan. Ostrich plucking is considerable of a novelty for San Francisco.

- Article from The San Fransisco Call of April 19 1913. -

Golden Gate Ostrich Farm
Certificate for 5 Shares of $10 each

Issued 26th Nov 1912

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