Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Museum Wales, is today a Welsh Government sponsored body. Founded by royal charter in 1907, it consists of nine museums including the National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National History Museum and the Big Pit National Coal Museum. Earlier this year, the Museum announced on its blog, see here, that it had received 16 very interesting share certificates, including a share certificate from the Royal Copper Mines of Cobre company founded in 1835.
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| Royal Copper Mines of Cobre "We hereby certify that the holder is entitled to five shares of forty pounds each, in the Royal Copper Mines of the township of Cobre in the Islands of Cuba" By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales |
The Museum has been actively collecting certificates since the mid 1980s and holds by far the largest and wide-ranging Welsh-interest share certificate collection held by any public museum, library or archive. The collection covers coal mining, metal mining (copper, gold, lead, silver, zinc), slate quarrying, metal smelting and processing, roads and bridges, canals, railways, shipping, public transport, public utilities (e.g. gas) and leisure (such as sporting and social clubs, cinemas). Currently more than 850 share certificates and related documents are preserved in the archives, says Mark Etheridge, Curator for the Industry & Transport Collections.
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| Pontypridd Gas Light and Coke Company Share of 10 Pounds, 1852 By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales |
The Welsh share certificates are used for temporary exhibitions whenever certificates are relevant to the subject matter of the exhibition. Two years ago, certificates from Welsh copper mining and copper smelting companies were displayed when an exhibition on the Welsh copper industry was mounted at the National Waterfront Museum at Swansea.
Paper objects deteriorate if exposed to high light levels or if displayed for long periods, clarifies Robert Protheroe Jones, Principal Curator Industry. For conservation reasons no paper objects, including certificates are displayed for long periods. That explains why certificates are not permanently on display.
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| Pontypridd Gas Light and Coke Company detail from the certificate shown above By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales |
The Welsh-interest certificate collection is held in the first place for study and reference. The Museum's certificates have also been utilised by authors of industrial history books. The collection is stored at the Museum's Collections Centre near Cardiff. The Museum is always pleased to provide access to the collection prior by appointment Mondays to Fridays.
From my question whether there were any certificates in Welsh - I haven't seen any yet - I learned that despite Wales being a bilingual country, Welsh was rarely used on certificates because English was dominant in commerce. More, shares in Welsh companies were usually promoted to potential investors in all parts of the UK. But the Museum has one bilingual certificate of "Cymdeithas Telynau Cymru (The Welsh Harp Society) Ltd", dated 1964.
I want to thank Robert Protheroe Jones, Principal Curator Industry, and Mark Etheridge, Curator for the Industry & Transport Collections, for their enthusiastic feedback about the Welsh scripophily collection.
F.L.
Related links
I want to thank Robert Protheroe Jones, Principal Curator Industry, and Mark Etheridge, Curator for the Industry & Transport Collections, for their enthusiastic feedback about the Welsh scripophily collection.
F.L.
Related links
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