Over 1500 lots of historic securities go on the block in FHW's upcoming sale, including an amazing share from Frederick the Great's Chinese trading company !

Freunde Historischer Wertpapiere (FHW) has scheduled its next sale for October 8, 2022. This time the auctioneer selected more than 1500 lots of historic bonds and share certificates. Major sections have been reserved for scripophily from Germany, the German DM era, USA and a series of more than 200 lots from other countries worldwide.

One of the highlights in the sale is this share in the Hippodrom-A.-G. Frankfurt am Main. The company was founded in 1897. Its main building was used to promote equestrian sports in public events and festivities and had the largest indoor riding arena of Germany. Allied bombing destroyed the hippodrome during WW II. Reportedly only four of these shares were discovered in the 1980s. L(ot) 756 in the auction is expected to realize €2,800. 

The German chapter presents over 750 lots from the pre-DM period and covers all regions and branches. A dedicated Deutschland Top 20 section, lot range 748-767, bundles the high-end items.  The auction also includes the Klaus H Reifenrath Collection consisting of 69 rare Kux and mining shares from the Siegerländer Erzrevier mining area.

The auction includes several shares designed in Art Deco. This one, issued in 1922 by the Mechanische Buntweberei J. Sim. Fleißner Aktiengesellschaft, a textile company from Münchberg, illustrates one of the company's modern fabric designs. L730 starts at €100. 

All lots are well-illustrated with high quality images on the Invaluable online platform. However, the Top 20 section includes even more in-depth information with extra illustrations in the catalog's PDF version (links see further below). 

Some examples from the German chapter  :

• The Central-Afrikanische Seeen-Gesellschaft operated gold mines and saltworks in the African Great Lakes region, then part of German East Africa. Seeen is German for lakes. This 1000 mark share was issued in Hamburg, 1902 and starts at €900, L384.
• The 1855 share from the Steinkohlenbau-Verein zu Rochlitz, a coal mine company, shows the city of Rochlitz, gnomes at work and an explosion in their mine, mined rock with imprints of fossilized plants and lots more. Extremely rare, this is in my opinion the most awesome German share certificate. L763, a top item, starts at €9,000.
• L926 starts at €320. The share from the Sundwiger Eisenhütte Maschinenbau-Actiengesellschaft displays a lovely Jugendstil design.

Time to highlight the absolute top item in the auction.

Four years after Frederick the Great became King in Prussia he annexed in 1744 the independent city-state of Embden (Emden), then the most important trade port on the North Sea. Eager to give Prussia a share of the Asian trade similar to the V.O.C. or the British East India Co., Frederick the Great granted the privilige in 1751 to found the Emden Trading Company. 

The company, also known as the Königlich Preußische Asiatische Compagnie in Embden nach Canton und China (Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China) was allowed to conclude contracts with foreign Asian rulers in the name of the King of Prussia. The Emden company owned four ships that made six voyages to Canton bringing back tea, porcelain and other goods. 

The company operated independently - the king's main interest was filling the Prussian (war) treasury - and became the first modern German stock corporation, i.e. without state influence.

The share, L760 in the auction, issued in 1752 for 500 Reichsthaler in Friderichs d'Or is the oldest German share known. 

It is also the oldest share in the German language. A complete translation of the text on the obverse, as well as a hint on its non-German provenance, can be found in the latest issue of Scripophily magazine, No. 119 August 2022. 

The clipping shown here says [..the Company's ships which shall sail] to Canton in China as well as other places in India .. . The document must be the oldest known share mentioning the word China as well. Start price €50,000.

The sale's Deutsche Mark section comprises of more than 230 lots, including a Top 20 chapter. To mention a few : L1146 is a 20 shares certificate in the Erste Kulmbacher Actienbrauerei AG (EKU), 1990, showing the company's logo with crown and prize medals, €75; L1249 Teutoburger Wald-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, Hamburg, 1951, unissued share, starts at €200. 

The Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft and the Rheinischen Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG merged in 1942 into the Aachener Strassenbahn und Energieversorgungs-AG (ASEAG). The company provided local public transport in the Aachen city region. During the Battle of Aachen, 1944, Allied troops used tramcars loaded with explosives and ammunition as rolling bombs on the sloping routes from Siegel and Grundhaus to the city center, which, however, caused little damage. This share, from 1954, shows a high voltage power pole and tram car in the underprint. Bids for L1088 are welcome from €40 onwards. 

The USA section features more than 200 lots. Here are some interesting examples to look for:

• L1429 is stock certificate in the Lamb's Run Oil Company coming from an old collection. Printed by Chandler from Philadelphia, 1865, it shows two vignettes of early oil derricks. The company was incorporated in Venango County, Pennsylvania where the biggest oilboom sparked only a few years earlier. €100
• Confederate States of America, 8% $100 bond from 1862, large vignette of the city of Richmond and portrait of C. G. Memminger, L1378, €300
• €380 may buy you a Laramie, Hahns Peak and Pacific Railway Company 100 common shares certificate issued in 1912. The company was incorporated in Wyoming. The shares of this company are illustrated with 3 vignettes of a locomotive, lumberjacks and miners at work, Cox cat nr LAR-083-S-51. L1430

This share from the Compañia Ron Bacardi can be found in the sale's Ausland section (foreign countries). The company was founded in 1862 in Cuba and became worldwide known for its white rum and derived cocktails such as the Cuba Libre and the Daiquiri. The share depicts bats, the company logo, a bottle of Bacardi rum and many of its prize medals won at contests. It is issued to Emilio Bacardi y Rossell, great grandchild of Facundo Bacardi Massó, founder of Bacardi, and grandchild of Emilio Bacardi Lay, mayor of Santiago de Cuba. Note that the certificate was issued in 1955 during the Cuban Revolution. The Bacardi family left the country in 1960 after the government confiscated the company's assets in 1960. L102 starts at €150. 

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

• Date : 8 October, 2022
• Location : Wolfenbüttel 
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/  

F.L.

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Spink auction presents American winemaking history

Spink USA plans its next New York auction in The Numismatic Collector's Series for Oct 30 and Nov 1, 2017. The sale includes coins, decorations, militaria, paper money, antique maps, autographs and other historical documents. Also on the menu are more than fifty, mainly American, bond and share certificates. One of these is a share from The Company for Promoting the Cultivation of Vines in Pennsylvania, one of the earliest wineries in America.

Company for Promoting the Cultivation of Vines in Pennsylvania

Lot 1916, share of $20, issued 1811, embossed seal with a bunch of grapes, surrounded by "SEAL OF THE VINE COMPANY OF PENNSYLVANIA." 

click to enlarge

Peter Legaux fled from prerevolutionary France in 1785. He boarded a ship bound for Philadelphia. There he found many compatriots and applied for citizenship. Legaux soon purchased an estate by the Schuykill River at Spring Mill. He discovered that native grapes were prolific and that the soil and climate conditions were comparable to those in Italy and France.

Legaux decided to produce his own wine and established one of the first vineyards in America. The wine he produced was a success. An entry in Legaux’s diary on July 22, 1787 states, “This day General Washington, General Thomas Mifflin and four other members of the Constitutional Convention did the honor of paying us a visit in order to see our vineyard and the bee business.” Peter Legaux could later persuade President Jefferson to support a duty on imported wines to encourage home production.

In 1802, Legaux incorporated The Company for Promoting the Cultivation of Vines in Pennsylvania. The company's first President was Peter Muhlenberg, a Revolutionary Brigadier General at the battles of Brandywine and Yorktown. In the same year Muhlenberg became also Philadelphia's customs collector.
Source: History of the Company for Promoting the Cultivating of Vines in Pennsylvania, Earl Moore, Financial History, Issue 65, 1999, Museum of American Financial History

Auction details

• Location : New York City
• Dates :  30 Oct  - 1 Nov 2017 
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

Book : Acciones Españolas

double-click image to enlarge
image source by Boone Shares

• Title : Acciones Españolas, la historia gráfica de los títulos Españoles; in English : Spanish share certificates, the graphical history of the Spanish securities
• Authors : Jorge Ibáñez
• ID : ISBN 84-95241-18-8, published by Bancoval, S.A. Grupo Dexia, 2001
• Languages : Spanish and English
• Number of pages : 197
• Images : more than 150 large color images 
• Indexes : no index

This luxury publication introduces us into, arguably, the most decorative theme in scripophily one can think of : Spain. More than 150 large color images are used to illustrate the following topics, both in Spanish and English :

• Sociedades por acciones y modernización económica en España (1700-2000); Stock companies and economic modernisation in Spain (1700-2000)
• Las primeras compañias; The first companies (18th century)
• La Españia de ultramar; Spain overseas (including some Philippines and Cuban certificates)
• La deuda pública; Public debt
• Los bancos; The banks
• El seguro y el mar; Insurance and the sea
• Aparece el tren; The arrival of the train
• El último tranvía; the last streetcar
• El automóvil; the automobile
• Las minas; Mines
• La electricidad; Electricity
• Con pan y vino; With bread and wine 
• El Modernismo Catalán; Catalonian Art Nouveau
• Madrid, Madrid, Madrid
• Los Españoles se divierten; Spaniards have fun

Most sections are briefly covered but the following ones are illustrated with a more extensive set of certificates including several rare pieces : 18th century companies, railroads and tramways and Catalonian art (including 3 certificates designed by J. Camins).

The companies included were active in the field of : trading companies, insurances, mining, banking, railway and tramways, public debt, public transport, electric power and lighting, food & wine, bull fighting, and more. 

A nice introduction into antique stocks and bonds from Spain. 

F.L.

Vinos Gasificados Blanxart - Ceci n'est pas un faux.

A bargain !

That particular Sunday turned out to be more interesting than usual. I was visiting a scripophily bourse; eBay was by no means invented yet. One of the present dealers showed me an album of certificates. One of them contained a superb share certificate of a Spanish sparkling wine producer. The name of the company: Vinos Gasificados Blanxart Sociedad Anonima Española. 

Vinos Gasificados Blanxart Sociedad Anonima Española
English: Spanish Blanxart Sparkling Wine Company
Share certificate for 100 Pesetas
double-click image to enlarge

A large vignette on the left side showed a pair of enthusiastic hands uncorking a bottle of Champagne, actually Spanish sparkling wine, which tastes as good as Champagne. On the right an elegant lady was ready to propose a toast. What a scene. The certificate's Art Nouveau design, with grapes depicted in the other borders, seemed to fit with the issue date of 1916. The dealer asked a price of 10 Deutsche Mark (about 7 USD) . Surely a bargain ! Without a doubt, I bought it. I even did not bother haggling any further.

But too good to be true !

Later, I noticed that the certificate's paper felt too strong for its supposed age of almost a hundred years. There were no tears or folds. The paper felt actually thicker than was usual the case with Spanish certificates from that period. Not brittle at all. I started being suspicious about my find. Someone told me it was a fake. At that time, I did not spent that much attention to details, but he was probably right. Hey, isn't that printer name a bit weird : Imprenta Fantasia, S.A. ; in English: the Fantasy Printing Company. A printer of securities surely has to have a more trustworthy name ? 

Vinos Gasificados Blanxart Sociedad Anonima Española
detail scanned at 600 dpi

I tried to find out more about the company or about the printer. There was no trace at all of both of them: the company and the printer probably never existed. The most convincing evidence that there is something wrong with this piece of paper can be seen with a good loupe. The paper was definitely printed in the 1970s maybe even in the late 1960s. Check out the details of the woman's face and the uncorking hands. Do you see the regular dot patterns, everywhere ? Old lithographed certificates have solid outlines and fills. This dot pattern is the result of modern offset printing methods.

Vinos Gasificados Blanxart Sociedad Anonima Española
detail scanned at 600 dpi

This is not a fake either !

Yet, I believe the one who issued these certificates had no intention to cheat other people. Why would one counterfeit a certificate that was issued by a non existing company and also was printed by a printer with a very questionable name? My best guess is that the certificate was distributed on the occasion of some kind of promotional activity, such as a wine bourse. Who knows more? 

The certificate has been traded and sold for tens of years .. as true scripophily. Most dealers do not recognize that this is a modern print. Only a very few dealers mention its true nature, see here an example: bravo ! What happened to the certificate ? Well, despite, or maybe thanks to its history, it ended up in my collection.

F.L.

Related links

• List of known counterfeit certificates, by EDHAC (in German)

Clairette de Die

Characterized by peach and apricot flavours and rose and honeysuckle aromas

Usually drunk young at a maximum of two years, served chilled at a temperature of 6°C to 8°C

Menglon is one of the villages in the Diois producing Clairette de Die.
Vineyards are located on the hill side at the left.
double-click image to enlarge
source : Wikipedia contributer Minimoi30

Clairette de Die

In southeastern France lies Die, a small town in the Drôme department. Diois, the region around Die, counts hundreds of wine producers cultivating about one thousand five hundred hectares of vineyards. The making of the local sparkling wine, Clairette de Die, can be traced back over two thousand years. It is known that already around the 1700s two types of grape varieties formed the basis for its production: the Clairette Blanche and the Muscat Blanc à Petits Grains. With the inauguration of the railway that linked Die to the line Paris-Lyon-Marseille in 1885, the market expanded further to the neighboring regions and took off in 1925 after the adoption of the Champenoise bottle. The Clairette received its first recognition with an appellation d'origine classification (AO) in 1910. The AOC, appellation d'origine contrôleé was established in 1942. 

Cave Coopérative de Clairette de Die, 1962
nominative certificate for 24 Shares of 5 Nouveaux Francs
printed by Imp. Reynard, Valence
double-click to enlarge image

Reference catalogue : Sicily

Image by Boone Shares

• Title : Sicilia, Carte Valori d'Epoca Collana Regionale, freely translated in English : Sicily, Old Securities Regional Series
• Author : Alex Witula, Giuseppe Giambalvo
• ID : ISBN 88-900-170-6-6 (original), ISBN 978-88-900170-6-3 (since Jan 2007); published by Portafoglio Storico
• Languages : Italian
• Number of pages : 144
• Images : one or two  color images on almost every page
• Index : certificates ordered by province, then by name

This colorful small format catalog presents scripophily from Sicily. Included are 

• bonds and shares from Sicilian companies 
• bonds and shares from Italian and non-Italian companies but operating mainly in Sicily
• government and city bonds from Sicily

The companies listed were active in the field of : banking, mining, football, railways, real estate, transport, agriculture, sugar, explosives, shipping, public construction, shipyards, insurances, state loans, electricity, film, metal works, shops, hotels and wine.

Chapters group items per province. Each chapter contains also a list of known securities of which there is no good image available :

• Agrigento
• Caltanissetta
• Catania
• Enna
• Messina
• Palermo
• Ragusa
• Siracusa
• Trapani

The book contains a separate leaflet containing the index on the certificates with corresponding price valuations. 

Scripophily from Sicily is not often seen. This collecting theme is much richer than I originally thought not only in terms of numbers of certificates but also in its decorative qualities. Where possible, the author has mentioned the artists that designed some of these historical papers. Bèn fatto!

F.L.

Signed the Guest book yet ?

Reference catalogue : American Brewers, Distillers and Vintners

                                                                         

Image by Boone Shares

• Title : American Brewers - Stock and Bond Certificates
• Authors : Lawrence Falater, Don Mesler
• ID : no ISBN , published by the authors, 2011
• Languages : English
• Number of pages : 104
• Images : about 130 color images 
• Indexes : no index

This is a small but detailed catalogue on scripophily from American brewers, distillers and vintners ! Along with the description of each certificate, an image and a value indication is included. From the introduction I read that no scanning device was used for the images, but a good old camera with excellent results. 

The certificates are grouped alphabetically by company in three sections :

1. breweries (about 100 images)
2. distilleries (about 20 images)
3. vintners (about 10 images)

Definitely an asset for the specialised collector !

F.L.

Signed Guest book yet ?