Tuesday, January 26, 2016

IBSS Mail Bid Auction - January 2016




The International Bond and Share Society, sets its next (members only) auction date to 31 January 2016. This auctions counts almost 300 lots, representing about 50 countries and an equal number of themes.


1902 bond certificate of Brussels depicting town hall and archangel Michael
Lot 24 in the auction : 1902 City loan of Brussels of 100 Francs,
text in Dutch and French with a vignette of the Brussels Town Hall. 
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Construction of the Town Hall started in 1402. It is regarded as a masterpiece 
of medieval European non-religious architecture. On top of the 96 meter high tower 
stands a 5-metre-high gilt metal statue of the archangel Michael, patron of Brussels, 
slaying a dragon.  It is this Michael that is also depicted in the lower border of the certificate. 
Note: The vignette shows a tower that was built in the center of the building. 
However, in reality the tower is located to the right of the middle.
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Certificate estimated at 10 GBP.


Practical auction info :
  • Date : January 31, 2016
  • Place : not applicable, this is a mail bid auction only
  • Auction catalogue can be downloaded here, where also the images of the lots can be viewed.


F.L.


P.S. Signed the Guest book  yet ?

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Uncharted : Seaco Computer Display Incorporated




The SEACO Computer Display company is a bit of a mystery to me. I was hoping that someone could tell me more about its history.

The style of the stock certificate matches the 1960s. The company name, or its variant with the hyphen, SEACO Computer-Display, does not appear in the '68 volume of Moody's Manual of Industrial Securities. Possibly later editions contain this company profile. Who can tell ?

In the 1970s this Texas-based organization produced microfiche readers and artwork generators, devices that could convert computer data, lettering and digital drawings, to microfiche or microfilm. What puzzles me is the usage of the word Computer in the company name. 

SEACO Computer Display Incorporated stock certificate

When was this business founded and by whom? Did it merge into a successor ?
Was the company involved in design or manufacturing of minicomputers or terminals ?


F.L.


Saturday, January 2, 2016

Poll : Does our hobby needs another name ?

While NUMISMATISTS are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, this discipline also includes the broader study of paper money, tokens, and related objects. In the 1970s collectors started using the term NOTAPHILY for collecting paper currency and banknotes. 

Anyone knows the meaning of the word EXONUMIA ? Some do. Exonumia is the hobby of collecting numismatic items (such as tokens, medals, or scrip) other than coins, paper money and bond and share certificates. 

What's in a name ? Scripophily stands for the study and collection
of securities and related items, such as this certificate for ordinary
shares of 10 Rupees in the Jodhpur Commercial Bank Ltd., issued 1946.

For bond and share certificates, including related securites, there is the term SCRIPOPHILY (see also here). The word was introduced in the 1970s and it took a decade for the word to become more widely known. I just googled the word and the search engine told me it had found more than 350,000 results ( philately yielded 820,000 results).

From my pre-Internet periode I still remember discussions between dealers on the correctness and suitability of the term scripophily. Some said the word didn't cover the full meaning, or it could not easily be pronounced. Others were happy with it and argued just the opposite. Forty years after its introduction, the word scripophily has been translated into many languages (see here again) .

This is a test note specimen from Nixdorf Computer. Started as
a computer manufacturer, the company specialized into the production
and servicing of  self-service transaction systems (such as ATMs).
The company eventually became Wincor Nixdorf.
Is this an example of scripophily, notaphily, or exonumia ?

A recent online discussion between IBSS members, brought up the question again whether or not scripophily should be replaced by another term. 
What do you think ? Tell us by participating in the poll. 

Poll information :
  • You can locate the poll in the right margin of this blog. 
  • Answers are anonymously and will be kept that way. 
  • The poll will be closed on 30th March 2016. 


Thank you for your participation.

Happy New Year 
F.L.

P.S. 
The word PHILATELY, used for collecting stamps, was introduced in the 1860s. Its inventor, Georges Herpin, coined this word as a better alternative for the term timbromania (source: Wikipedia).




Update (2016 July)
The poll result can be viewed here .