Exhibition : Hübner, Siemens und Beate Uhse

The town of Mosbach is located in the north of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about 58 km east of Heidelberg. This summer, its museum is host to approximately 150 bond and share certificates.

The "Hübner, Siemens und Beate Uhse" exhibits are part of a collection provided by German scripophily collector Nico Schubert and shows us a wide variety of possible collecting themes in our field :

• German regions
• Reichsmark and Deutsche Mark issues
• spectacular crashes
• internationally famous brand names
• decorative and graphic marvels

Included are certificates from companies involved in banking, sugar production, breweries, railroad transport, machine building, electric utilities, football and even more.

Practical info :

• location : Stadtmuseum Mosbach, Mosbach, Germany
• duration : 17 June 2013 -  7 August 2013
• opening hours : Sunday and Wednesday, 15:00 - 18.00
• no entrance fee

Further reference : 

• "Hübner, Siemens und Beate Uhse" exhibition 
• Mosbach town museum 
• Related article in the German newspaper the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung 

Sure, a combined visit to the old town of Mosbach and the exhibition this summer sounds like an excellent idea !

F.L.

Urgent ! Petition for the Amsterdam Tropenmuseum

The Museum of the Tropics in Amsterdam is hit by budget cuts and the government even plans to close it. Please help putting this case again on the Dutch government agenda by signing an online petition. Until June 30, 2013 40,000 signatures are required.

interior of the museum
picture from Wikipedia by Ziko van Dijk 
double-click image to enlarge

As one of Europe’s leading ethnographic museums its rich collection reflects the Dutch colonial history. The museum houses more than 640,000 objects including 

• 485,000 photographs
• 5,500 musical instruments as well as various other theatrical objects such as masks and puppets
• 21,000 textile artifacts, a majority of which are from Indonesia
• 19,000 miscellaneous drawings, paintings, and documents

The collection includes also antique stocks and bonds. Some of them are available online, see here. You can use the Dutch search terms 'aandeel' (share) and 'obligatie' (bond). 

Batjan Archipel Maatschappij, Dutch East Indies
Ordinary share of 500 Guilder
Rotterdam, 1911
image source : Tropenmuseum, Online Collections

Ursula Kampmann, from CoinsWeekly brought this under my attention, see here. The Tropenmuseum is about people, and I am a people-person. That is why I also signed the petition. If you feel the same way like me then sign too and spread the word. Signatures are needed before 30 June 2013. The online petition is located here.

For non dutch speakers, on the site: please fill in your first name and last name (Ik = Identity = put your name), city (Wonende te = City = put your city) and your email and send. Next, click on the confirmation link in the email that you will receive subsequently.

Thank you !

F.L.

Further links

• Online site of the Tropenmuseum 
• Wikipedia's Tropenmuseum 

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 ?

Digest of scripophily readings XI

New online scripophily articles and references, June 2013

Herzlich Willkommen in Schweinfurt

Welcome to Schweinfurt! In Bavaria lies the German city of Schweinfurt. The Schweinfurtfuehrer website, English: the Schweinfurt Guide, mentions all the reasons you can think of why you should visit this place : historic buildings and places, museums, recreation and outdoor activities, art.  

But there is more to see on the site: images of numismatic material have been provided by the Schweinfurt Numismatic Society and the city 's Archives. That includes : coins, banknotes and ... yes, beyond any doubt, ... antique stocks and bonds. Here, you'll see several certificates from ball-bearing factories, and did you spot the interest free loan certificate of that bicycle racetrack, with the vignette of an early bike ? There is also a book published about Schweinfurt's scripophily.  Why haven't I visited this place yet ?

Scripophily from East Germany ?
In the former German Democratic Republic, all companies were hold by the GDR government. That is why we do not see any scripophily from this country (1949-1990). Really? Actually no. A very few number of certificates were apparently issued and survived. DGW Information, issue 2013 - 1, published by the Deutsche Geldschein- und Wertpapiersammler e.V. (English: German Banknote and Scripophily Association), tells us more in the article Bankwesen und Wertpapiere in der DDR, see here.
Tip: on the same page you can see a handful of these East German bonds and even a share.

Investment Bubbles in the early UK Bicycle Industry

The 1880s saw several technical improvements by manufacturers of bicycles to improve the safety of their products. Exports of bikes to France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany increased significantly. Spink Insider Magazine, issue 15 Spring 2013, features an article on the early days of the English bicycle industry. Several UK bicycle and early motor car companies are discussed and illustrated with share certificates.  You can read, and download, this nicely written article online here. The author, John Batten, has currently a story on the Sunbeam Motor Company in the latest Scripophily magazine (see below).

Oh, and if you do read this Spink publication, then you probably want to read the Paris Balloon Posts article, not related to scripophily but quite a story.

Scripophily Magazine
In addition to the online sources above, the latest April 2013 No.91 issue of Scripophily magazine, published by the International Bond and Share Society , contains the following stories :

• 'Specophily' finds another darling, otherwise SAGS, about speculation phenomena in scripophily
• Stocks from 1250, a coverage of medieval scripophily in the form tally sticks
• Cox's Corner : Taking the pulse of (one part) of our hobby, concerning prices and estimates
• The Sunbeam Motor Co. Ltd 1899-1919 
• A short story about a curious stock certificate from the "Capital Circuit Traction Company"
• The Inseparable Brothers Dodge & the Dodge Brothers, Inc.
• Art on Italian Government Bonds
• Smaller articles on : Dayton Manufacturing Co., Casa Grande Improvement Co. scam, Grand Trunk Railway Co. of Canada
• other periodical topics : society matters, news, bourse reviews, auction reviews, events calendar, member classifieds, book reviews

F.L.

The Scheele Morroco collection

The name "Morocco" originates from the Spanish "Marruecos", 

the Portuguese "Marrocos", or medieval Latin "Morroch", which 

referred to the name of the city of Marrakech. 

The Arabic name of the country is  المملكة المغربية 

(al-Mamlakat al-Maghribiyyah) meaning "The Western Kingdom". 

Gouvernement Impérial du Maroc,
4% Bond of 500 Francs, Rabat, 1914
source: HWPH
double-click image to enlarge

A major scripophily collection from Morocco

On November 10 2012 a collection, likely the largest of its kind, of Morrocan securities was auctioned by HWPH Historisches Wertpapierhaus AG. The collection covers 591 certificates from 453 different issuers, brought together by the seller over a time span of tens of years. More than 80 per cent of the issuers, mentioned in the book Le Maroc en Scripophilie, are represented in this collection, but also, more than 200 certificates from the collection are not mentioned in the book. 

The collection was not sold in the auction, but the auctioneer has digitized it. The images have been put online. You can browse all of it on the tailor-made website Scripophily Morocco.  

Entreprise de Travaux et Location de Genie Civil
10 Shares of 100 Dirhams, Casablanca, 1969
source: HWPH

F.L.

NB : The link to this online collection is also included on the Online Exhibitions section of this blog's calendar page.