Grace's Guide, leading information source on British industrial history

Auction company SPINK sold the following share certificate in their sale of 21st June 2018. Classic car hobbyists will recognize the Minerva brand. If you didn't, then you can turn to Grace's Guide To British Industrial History.

Minerva Motors (England) Limited

deferred shares of one shilling, 1928

SPINK sold this rare share in the British Minerva company (21 Jun 2018) in a group lot together with 15 common Belgian Minerva company certificates for £80.

image courtesy SPINK

Editor Andrew Tweedie started the Grace's Guide to British Industrial History project in 2007 as a not-for-profit project. Its aim is to provide a brief history of the companies, products and people who were instrumental in British industry, commencing with the birth of the Industrial Revolution and continuing up to recent times. Andrew Tweedie, his staff members and a team of expert volunteers have produced nearly 130,000 pages so far.

For some time now I've used the Grace's Guide website for research on antique securities from UK companies. The site also provides information of engineers, inventors, directors, investors and other important personalities who were involved in these companies. As a result I may recognize the names and signatures of the people who signed or subscribed to these early shares.

According to Grace's Guide, the company was originally established as Minerva Motors, Ltd in 1900 as a concessionaire for Minerva cars. The signature is the one from S. C. Holloway (who later started his own motor business).

My collector friend Adam recently reported in the International Bond & Share Society's online forum more interesting news about the Grace's Guide pages :

" The scope is gradually being extended to include non-UK businesses and biographies. Additions are being made to the information daily by a team of volunteers who give freely of their time and expertise. I have been in contact with the editor Andrew Tweedie, he would gratefully accept photos of share certificates or information relating to any of the companies in the database. "

Now isn't that a win-win situation ? 

F.L.

Related links

• Grace's Guide to British Industrial History 
• Grace's Guide The Blog  

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AIA's forthcoming numismatic auction to feature rare American railways

Archives International Auctions will hold this year’s summer auction at Fort Lee, New Jersey on August 8, 2018. Over a thousand lots of US, Chinese & worldwide banknotes, scripophily and security printing ephemera will be auctioned in two sessions. The sale includes about 340 lots with antique bonds and shares.

Lot 212 : Chinese Government, 8% 10 Year Sterling Treasury Note £500 Sterling 
From 1919, a scarce £500 'Vickers Loan' Treasury Note, estimate $130-200 

Chinese government bonds open the scripophily show at L(ot) 170. Two, large-formatted, Imperial Chinese Government Tientsin-Pukow Railway 1908 £100 bonds, both partly redeemed, are estimated from $120, L. 197 and L.198. A Republic of China 1937, $100 bond, vignette of pagoda, in extremely fine condition, is expected to bring $350 to $700, L.217.

The main scripophily program is an almost contiguous section starting at Lot 674. International stocks and bonds are representing countries like Canada, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Puerto Rico, United Kingdom, France, Sweden et cetera.

I note : Santa Elena Mining Comany, 1887, Honduras, Manhattan vignette (L.723). A great vignette of the Paris Notre Dame Cathedral at the Seine river can be seen on a 1916 City of Paris specimen bond (L.722). Mexican Central Railway Co Ltd, 1889, specimen bond, (L.737), several vignettes, is estimated from $400. The sale includes a 1895 stock certificate from The Nicaragua Company, unsuccesful in completing a Panama canal route (L.769).

Lot 712 : La Sociedad del Canal de Maipo, specimen bond, Santiago de Chile, early 1900s

The portrait shows Domingo de Eyzaguirre y Arechavala (1775 – 1854), a Chilean politician and philanthropist who wanted to revive the abandoned canal project surrounding Santiago. The Spanish government approved the plan, and in 1802 made Eyzaguirre director. The revolution of 1810 interrupted the work, but it was resumed after Chile's independence in 1817. In 1820 the canal of Maipo was opened.

Click to enlarge image

I'll go right away over the many, extraordinary US railroad securities. But first I want to underscore the wide range of American sectors and themes that are covered in this event : automobiles, aviation, shipping, mining, industry, utilities, city & states loans, and much more.  NOTE: Startprices in the sale are significant lower than the lowest estimates printed in the catalogue, therefore check out the lots online.

A Rolls-Royce of America (L.679), 1919, specimen share, very early, may be acquired from $300 onwards. Bensen Aircraft Corporation, established in 1952, developed helicopters like the B-8. Issued 1956, facsimile by founder Igor Bensen, bidding on this share is invited from $110 (L.685).  Bodie Bluff Consolidated Gold Mining Company, 1879, Mono County, California, can be purchased from $240 (L.776). The auctioneer expects a Confederate States blockade runner share from The Consolidated Steamship Company, 1864, South Carolina, to realize $600 or maybe $900 (L.808). From 1921 dates a Standard Oil Company of New York specimen $1000 bond (L.811). Wonderfully designed lettering, vignettes of a native American and the Niagara Falls, and a company seal with a man in a canoe, illustrate a Niagara Falls Power Company specimen bond (L.995), start price $110.

Lot 817 : San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad Company, 1911, $10,000 specimen bond from the American Bank Note Archives

The line, completed in 1905, crossed unpopulated desert terrain between Los Angeles and Salt Lake until the city of Las Vegas began its growth in the mid-twentieth century. A gorgious design with a speeding locomotive flanked by two money spending water nymphs. Rare, estimated $180-280
Click to enlarge image

US Railroad connoisseurs will be delighted to see the many rare securities involved. Several of these come from the American Bank Note Archives, have not been seen in issued form and are probably unique. Here are some picks to illustrate my point :

• A $10,000 specimen bond in the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, 1905, woman with child and railway scenes, L.819, can be acquired from $200.
• An Evansville & Richmond Railroad Company bond, 1891, "00000" serial number, appeared 16 years ago at auction. This is the second one offered since then, L.836. Estimated between $450 and $750.
• Unknown in issued form, and last one from two found in the archives, Crooked Creek Railroad and Coal Company, 1911, specimen bond, depicts a coal train and factory, L.841. 
• A stunning and equally rare $10,000 specimen bond from the Central Railroad of New Jersey, 1887, L.893, should interest railway collectors at $425 start price. 
• Tramcars and passengers illuminated by an angel with electric light, two great vignettes on a Akron Street Railway and Illuminating Company specimen bond, 1896, Akron, Ohio, L.915. A bid starting at $500 may bring you home this certificate, the only one known since its discovery in 2002.

Here are the sale's details, so you can discover much more for yourself :

• Location : Fort Lee, New Jersey
• Date : 8 August 2018
• Further info : see here, AIA's online catalogue with full color images, here, and PDF version there 

F.L.

Original British automotive shares for sale at Spink London

SPINK's Bonds and Shares Department has scheduled its next ONLINE only sale for 21 June 2018. Specialist Mike Veissid and his team noticed that most of the buying in the market of antique securities happens online and decided to no longer produce any printed catalogues. Sales will be held entirely online at least four times a year and go live two to three weeks before the sale date. The June sale has 526 lots of world wide scripophily. Included are a unique series of British automotive shares.

Rolls-Royce needs no introduction. Founded by Charles Stewart Rolls and Frederick Henry Royce in 1904, the company developed and manufactured the "best car in the world". Did you know that RR was responsible for the cabinets of Ferranti's Pegasus, one the world's earliest (and British) computers. Apart from the modern issues, RR shares from earlier periods like the one offered in lot 333 are extremely rare. Issued in the middle of World War II, 1942, a very modest estimate of £140-180 will certainly attract the attention of many automobile enthousiasts.

More about these British automobile shares right away, but there are many other lots in the sale worth having a look at. The sale starts with a line of bonds and shares from New Zealand and Australia, lots 2 - 14, and includes a Lake Bathurst Australasian Gold Mining Company from the 1850s.

A large Chinese section of government loans counts many group lots, such as lot 34, a group of 9 5% Tientsin Pukow Railway Supplementary Loan 1910 £100 bonds, issued by the Chinese Central Railways in 1911, estimated around £275.

Chinese Government 5% Gold Loan of 1912 £1000, lot 44.

It is the highest denomination of the £10,000,000 loan. Nicknamed the ‘Crisp’ loan because it was floated by C. Burch, Crisp & Co. in London at 95% on behalf of the British & International Investment Trust, Ltd. 

Only 750 issued, it is estimated to fetch £1,400 - £1,800

Twenty-five lots of Chinese company securities are next. Amongst them a group lot of 5 different issues from the Banque Industrielle de Chine, including a blue founders share. These are true classics but are oh-so nice to look at, as you can see here. Estimated between £150-£200.  Lot 86 is a China Portland Cement Co. Ltd. 50,000 yuan share, high denomination, 1926. A group of 7 Manchuria Iron Company certificates from the 1920's and 30's deserves attention. This huge company at some time produced 50 per cent of Japan's wartime steel. Lot 104, £90 mid estimate.

Some other striking Asean certificates : two shares in the Borneo Rubber Company Ltd, 1917, map of Indonesia and Malaysia in underprint, lot 108 & 109, estimated around £55, and a very rare Ottoman 3½% Loan Secured by the Egyptian Tribute, 1894 £100 bond, lot 114 in the sale, is expected to fetch £600.

£60 May buy you lot 238, a stunning Tramways d'Astrakhan share from 1896. The share is designed by the artist Gossart, engraved by Malvaux and signed by the wealthy Belgian entrepreneur and amateur Egyptologist Édouard Empain.

Most countriest from Europe are represented. Some examples : 5000 Pesetas Spanish specimen bond from the Law of August 1899 - Royal Decree of June 1902 Loan, head of the King Alfonso XIII as a boy at top, rare, lot 249, £70 estimate. Lot 153 is a highly illustrated Serbian bond issued by Belgrado's Jewish community. A very large format Danish 5% Loan specimen bond £1000 from 1864, rarely seen, lot 161, is estimated between £80-100.

The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, lot 270 in the Spink sale. 

This specimen 5-Yr  $10,000 Gold Note from 1916 was printed by the American Bank Note Company shortly before the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921). A rare historic piece for any UK and Irish collector, with very attractive estimates between £250 and £300.

Not less than 105 lots are from Great Britain.  A parade of early British canal companies include several certificates from 18th century.  The Glocester and Berkeley Canal Company share, 1794, printed on vellum, yellow paper embossed seal, may be obtained for £300. An unissued bond from the Thames and Severn Canal Navigation, from the 1790s with brown-orange printed vignettes of canal tunnels, is an early example of color security printing (lot 279). From 1762, a £100 share in the River Nene Navigation Joint Stock features nine wax seals and a lead seal. Marvellous to see (here), this museum object, lot 277, can become a highlight in a collection from £600 onwards.

Poseidon with trident at a rough sea, detail from lot 270 (see image above)

Click the image to enlarge it, and see how curved engraving lines make Poseidon' s cloak fold gently. Poseidon sticks his left foot outside the oval frame surrounding the scene, a clever idea from the artist to create extra depth in the artwork. To print a wonderful vignette like this, you need  both a great artist and a top talented engraver. 

Spink's sale provides a remarkable cross-section of British car makers securities. Here are some of the highlights with lot numbers between parentheses : Rolls-Royce (333), Calcott Brothers Ltd (313), Minerva Motors (England) Ltd (327), Lea-Francis Cars Ltd (325), Humber Ltd - with the Humber logo (322 and 323) and Singer & Company Ltd (335). Even early electric automobile companies are not missing the stage, e.g. The London Electrical Cab Company (293, see image). A share from The Electromobile Company Ltd, a manufacturer, dates from as early as 1904 (319).

Pioneering with electric automobiles, this company's cabs had two sets of accumulators suitable for forty miles on one charge. Lot 293, estimates £50-60

The last chapter contains more than 150 lots from North and South America. Almost all countries from this part of the world make an appearance. Some noteworthy items are : Canada Company, 1842 (377), a group of five bonds from The Brazil Great Soutern Railway Company Ltd, 1891 (395) , Saint Helena Whale Fishery Company, 1837 (417), County of Lee-Fort Madison, West Point, Keosauqua & Bloomfield Rail Road Company, 1857 (454)  and Lykens Valley Coal Company, 1837, superb vignette of forge and printed by Underwood, Bald, Spencer & Hufty (488).

City of Rosario 4% Sterling Conversion Loan for £2,000,000 

£500 Sterling bearer bond, series "B", specimen, 1908 

lot 391, estimated £80 to £100

Here are the sale's details, so you can discover much more for yourself :

• Location : online auction only
• Date : 21 June 2018
• Further info : see Spink's online catalogue with full color images, here, and PDF version there 

F.L.