Antwerp Hilton hosts Boone's auction of historic share certificates.

Mario Boone's 72nd auction features more than 1500 lots of scripophily from all over the world. The word scripophily is a contraction of the English word “scrip”, a certificate entitling ownership right, and the Greek word "φίλος" (philos), meaning "friend". It refers to the field of collecting of antique stocks and bond certificates.

This 1905 share from the Grands Magasins du Printemps tells us what this famous department store from Paris stood for: "Bon Marché - Qualité -Nouveauté - Élégance", in English: Cheap - Quality - Novelty - Elegance. Today a chain of department stores, Printemps offered high quality goods at prices affordable for the middle class. The store pioneered with discount sales to clear outdated stock, and used window models to display the latest fashions. L(ot) 350 in the auction starts at €200 

Two auction catalog volumes are available online and can be downloaded separately as PDF documents. Nearly all of the 180 pages in the main catalog include color images and background stories of the certificates to be hammered. For easy retrieval purposes, search indexes help the collector on his quest for engravers, artists, security printers, Belgian provinces, more than 80 countries and an equal number of special interest themes. 

The TOP 80 auction highlights are documented in a separate volume with bigger pictures and more detailed descriptions. 

This fascinating share in the merchant frigate Le Saint Philippe was signed by its captain Jean Daragorry in 1746. At this time it was the practice to finance the fitting-out of a ship on a one voyage at a time basis.  Le Saint Philippe, equiped with 18 6-pound ball cannons and a crew of 80, sailed under Spanish flag to Campeche and Tabasco in Mexico. At this date, France and Spain were at war with England over the Austrian Succession. Lot 786 is one of the Top 80 highlights of the sale and is expected to realize at least €2,400. 

The auctioneer managed to present some old collections that now have become available to the market including Belgian coal mining, British Railroads, Belgian Trams in Italy, Chile and Brazil. Some of these (check the catalog) are first offered as a complete collection in one single group lot. Only if no bids are received for the complete collection the individual certificates will be auctioned one by one. 

The auction features a few airline stock certificates. This is L1518, a nominative share from the Navegação Aérea Brasileira, issued in Rio de Janeiro, 1941. The certificate is listed at a €50 start price, a steal if you ask me, but it may be hammered as part of a collection of 393 Brazilian securities, L862, that is first offered as a single group at €7000. 

The Boone auction will take place at a new venue, the Hilton Old Town hotel in the heart of Antwerp. It was built in neoclassicism style in 1859 and served as a hotel and department store. You might want to spend a weekend in Antwerp because the day after the auction a scripophily bourse is organized by Guy Bertrand at the same place.

This stock was issued in 1918 to Elizabeth Huidekoper aka Mrs Henry P Kidder, co-founder of Kidder, Peabody & Co. A regular donor to charity causes she also made gifts to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The certificate is also signed by Alice Evelyn Hay Wadsworth, known for her "Wadsworthy" tactics. Both women were high-society figures. The Woman Patriot Publishing Company was a publisher of The Woman Patriot, a "National Newspaper for the Home and National Defense Against Woman Suffrage, Feminism and Socialism". L1218, a rare stock representing a remarkable era in the field of women’s rights and American suffrage, starts at €240. 

There is a lot to discover, so here are the auction details :

• Location: Antwerp, Belgium (new venue: Antwerp Hilton Old Town)
• Date:  27 April, 2024 
• Further info: online catalog & bidding, see here on the auctioneer's website, or via the Invaluable platform, see there. The two PDF catalogs can be downloaded from the auctioneer's site.

F.L.

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Swastikas for prosperity

Last year's Holabird Americana’s Big Bonanza Auction included a share in the Swastika Mining and Development Company. The item sold for $80. Scripophily magazine no.121 said: “The swastika was said to be a good luck symbol in western Native American culture and it appears on a few certificates”. That’s only a part of the truth.

I wrote this article for Scripophily magazine No 122-August 2023, a publication by IBSS.

Fig. 1 The Swastika Mining and Development Company owned claimes at Lakeview, Idaho, and a lime quarry at Lake Pend Oreille. This share was issued in 1910, and shows two swastikas in the masthead and one in the embossed seal. 

We usually recognize the Swastika symbol as the symbol of Nazis, which we can also find on Nazi era bonds. However it is a much older symbol. In North America, the Tlinglit and the Hopi applied the symbol to decorate objects like baskets up to the 20th century. The Ancient Greeks, the Romans, the Celts, Germanic and Baltic tribes, as well as the Vikings knew about the swastika. The swastika is one of the most common symbols on Mesopotamian coins.

Fig. 2 Detail of the tomb of Bishop William Edington (d. 1366) in Winchester Cathedral. Note the swastika on the vestments of the effigy of Bishop William Edington. Atrribution: Ealdgyth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

The word swastika comes from Sanskrit, the lingua franca in ancient South Asia and generally means ‘beneficial for well-being and prosperity’. The Sanskrit philologist Pāṇini from Ancient India wrote down the word approximately around 500 BC, but the symbol predates even the pyramids of Egypt.

Fig.3 Details of swastikas on Indian shares. Top row, left to right: Kesoram Cotton Mills, Gourepore Co, Scindia Steam Navigation, Bottom row, left to right: Indore Malwa United Mills, Jodhpur Commercial Bank 

The swastika icon has a spiritual significance in Indian religions. Swastikas can be seen on many buildings, statues and in homes in Asia and especially in India. It is an auspicious symbol for Hindus and can be used when starting anything new. The swastika often decorates the opening pages of personal and ledger account books. What follows are some examples in Indian scripophily. I grouped the details in figure 3.

Fig.4 The Indore Malwa United Mills Ltd, Rs100 share, 1949 

Sir Sarupchand Hukumchand was an important opium trader and a pioneer in the cotton Industry of central India. He founded the Indore Malwa United Mills in 1909 at Indore. In the 1950s the company employed about 3,000 textile workers that worked more than 1,400 looms. The underprint of its share shows the Goddess Lakshmi giving lots of coins. A minuscule swastika was incorporated in the border design right below the hoard (Fig. 3 and 4).

Fig.5 The Scindia Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1 share of Rs15, 1948 

The Scindia Steam Navigation Company was founded in 1919 by Walchand Hirachand, Narottam Morarjee, Kilachand Devchand and Lallubhai Samaldas. Back then the sea routes in the British Empire were controlled by British companies. The company's flag ship SS Loyalty was the first Indian owned ship to sail to the United Kingdom. The vignette on the share, Fig. 5, depicts the SS Loyalty. The ship was purchased from Maharaja Madho Rao Scindia of Gwalior. Note the tax duty stamp with swastika.

Fig. 6 The Gourepore Co, Ltd, ordinary shares of Rs100, 1929 

What appears to be a rather plain certificate, the share of the Gourepore Company comes with a surprise feature to the meticulous researcher. This jute mill was registered in 1893. Its factory at Naihati, now part of the Kolkata Metropolitan area, had its own train carrying coal to its power house. The underprint of the certificate, Fig. 6 and 3, consists of a pattern of 2.5 mm² sized swastikas covering most of the surface.

Fig.7 Kesoram Cotton Mills Ld, 100 ordinary shares of Rs10, 1955 

Registered in 1919, the Kesoram Cotton Mills from Calcutta was managed by the Birla brothers. On 16 August 1946, Direct Action Day was announced by the All-India Muslim League leading to large-scale lethal violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta. More than 300 labourers of the Kesoram Cotton Mills were killed. The company’s share certificate from 1955 shows an embossed company seal with swastika (Fig. 7 & 3). The business evolved into today’s industrial group Kesoram Industries Ltd.

Fig.8 Jodhpur Commercial Bank Ltd, ordinary shares of Rs10 paid Rs5, 1946 

The Jodhpur Commercial Bank was established in 1944 in Jodhpur but soon opened branches in Kuchaman, Merta City and Pali, all three in Rajasthan, but also in Nagpur and Bombay. Jodhpur’s impressive Mehrangarth Fort is illustrated on the company’s share certificate, figure 8. Note the swastika in the 100 shares denomination. 

As a symbol of good luck the swastika had a major revival in Europe and North America in the 19th and early 20th century (that lasted till World War II). Scout groups used the icon on badges, even the US Army’s 45th infantry division used it as a sleeve insignia. Carlsberg has put it on its beer labels. Metal watch fobs in the form of a swastika with Coca-Cola logo are now selling at auctions for hundreds of dollars.

Fig.9 The Ericsson Shipping Co, Ltd, shares of £1, 1915, image courtesy aktien.gutowski.de 

I end this article with a share from the Ericsson Shipping Company. This company from Newcastle-on-Tyne experimented with ships built with a corrugated steel hull. This design increased the longitudinal strength of a ship without any corresponding increase of weight. Its certificate shows a sectional view of a ship’s hull on the left. 

The Ericsson shipping flag consists of a swastika for good luck. However, its SS Monitoria was sunk on 21 Oct 1915 by a U-boat. Their SS Willingtonia, built in 1918, was hit by a torpedo the very same year. So much for good luck.

FL

Previous posts

• The new Scripophily magazine is out! 
• George Bellows's Men of the Docks  

FHW's 125th auction is online with exceptional antique stocks and bonds

Jörg Benecke has scheduled FHW's 125th sale for 2 March 2024. With his team he brought together 2000 lots of scripophily and related documents. The event, a live auction held at FHW's home base Wolfenbüttel, offers historic and beautiful antique stocks and bonds from all continents. 

A highlight in FHW's auction is L(ot)962, a 1858 share in the Eisenhütten-AG Blücher, an early steel company from Dortmund. Germany's Ruhr area counted almost 300 coal mines by the 1850s. Coal was exported or processed in coking ovens into coke, used in blast furnaces, producing iron and steel. This 200 Thaler share depicts Generalfeldmarschall Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher who won several battles against Napoleon’s troops. He joined Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, his army playing a decisive role in the final victory. The vignette shows von Blücher wearing the Star of the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross awarded only twice in history. This rare and spectacular lithoprint by H. Kaufmann from Münster starts at €2,800. 

The Eisenhütten-AG Blücher certificate is part of the Deutschland bis 1945 chapter that includes about 650 lots. Some of the other historic items here are:

• Deutsche Bank, Berlin, 200 Thaler share, 1881, extremely rare and a top object in any international finance collection 
• Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke AG, 1000 shares certificate, from the Reichsbank archives
• LLoyd-Werft Aktiengesellschaft, builder of boats, 10000 Mark share 1923, underprint of a sailboat and a hand emerging from the water rescuing a canoe.
• Münchener Trambahn-Actien-Gesellschaft, 400 Mark share, 1882, rare founder's share 

Part of the 200 lots in the Deutschland ab 1945 chapter, is this BASF specimen 1000 shares certificate. BASF as we know it today was reorganized in 1952 and became the largest producer of chemicals in the world. In the 1960s and 1970s BASF succesfully sold computer tape and other storage devices. At the end of the 1970s the company marketed Hitachi's mainframe computers and soon thereafter launched their own line of business microcomputers like the BASF 7120 model. The certificate dates from 1967 and shows the Ludwigshafen production site.  L1457 starts at €500. 

A surprise is the sale of a complete collection of stocks and bonds related to Israel. About 130 certificates, spanning two centuries, are initially offered as one lot at €20,000, L24. In case of no bids, buyers have the opportunity to bid on the individual lots. 

This certificate from The Arab Cigarettes and Tombac Company Ltd is part of the Israel collection. The company was founded in Nazareth, which is the largest Arab city in Israel today. The company traded in cigarettes and tombac, a unwashed natural tobacco leaf used with the waterpipe. This unissued share of 1 Palestine pound with text in English and Arabic might be available from €240. 

Over 350 lots are comprised in the USA chapter. Among the many interesting items are: 

• L1743 Florida Land Rock Phosphate Company, Western Bank Note engraving, 1894, unique vignette of phosphate miners in forest 
• L1835 New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Westeren Rail Road Company, stock certificate, 1855, large train vignette, signed by Benjamin Franklin Flanders, Governor of Louisiana and mayor of New Orleans, who formed the 'Friends of Universal Suffrage' 
• L1680 Central New England Railway Company, preferred stock, 1906, large Poughkeepsie Bridge vignette 
• L1652 Apperson Bros. Automobile Company 

Steel engraving is the trademark of the American Bank Note Company. With no sales recorded during the past ten years in the coxrail.com database, this stock from the Tennesee based Morristown and Cumberland Gap Railroad can find a new home from €500 onwards. L1824 

The auction catalog counts over 200 pages. You'll find several more chapters in it, including two with items offered at half of their previous start price. So, lots to discover there. Here are the details :

• Location : The event takes place at the company headquarters in Wolfenbüttel.
• Date : 2 March, 2024
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/  

L277: Sociedad del Teatro Chapi de Villena, 25 pesetas share from 1915, vignette of the Spanish composer Ruperto Chapi, lovely Art Nouveau design, €150 

F.L.

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The new Scripophily magazine is out!

Scripophily is the world’s most comprehensive and insightful publication for passionate collectors and active researchers of antique securities. This three-yearly periodical, printed on high quality paper, is the flagship of The International Bond and Share Society (IBSS).

Its 2024 January issue brings over 40 pages of scripophily news, in depth articles, book reviews, and pictures of collector friends. Scripophily magazine is illustrated with tons of gorgious stock certificates. This one from the A/S Spitzbergen company is a highlight featured in one of the many auction reports included in the publication. 

A significant part of Scripophily magazine brings reports on auctions in this collecting field. This 1905 stock certificate from the AS Spitzbergen company shows a vignette of a whaler harpooning a whale. That year, the Tønsberg-based whaling company built a whaling station on Finneset, a peninsula located on the east side of Grønfjorden on Spitsbergen. The certificate sold for NOK6,200 at the auction of the Norwegian Scripophily Society. 

Here is a summary on the main topics brought in the new issue :

• Unique War Bond, a remarkable discovery of a World War I prisoner camp library bond 
• Gatling Ordnance Co Misfires
• The Case of the Missing Farmers, an Egyptologist traces back Crédit Agricole d'Égypte vignettes 
• Taking Stock of Pittsburgh 
• David and Goliath, The Winona and Southwestern railroad takes on The Chicago and Northwestern railroad 
• Scripophily Frozen, winter scenes in scripophily

Become a member of IBSS and receive three times per year this great magazine. The 1 year membership costs £28 or $35 or €32. And the magazine is not the only benefit you'll receive. 

More info can be found on-line here at the website of the International Bond & Share Society: https://scripophily.org/ 

F.L.

HWPH's 66th auction

Happy New Year! 2024 kicks off with Matthias Schmitt's 66th auction. It takes place as an online-only auction and includes almost 600 lots of antique shares and bond certificates.

For the time being this will be the auctioneer's last auction. The prime part of HWPH's business, Russian scripophily, is badly affected by the war of Russia against Ukraine. The auction offers mainly unsold items from previous auctions. With all lots starting at €5, you may strike a bargain!

Part of the sale is a section of roughly 100 lots of American railroad stocks and bonds. Illustrated here is L(ot) 171, a bond from the Savannah and Charleston Rail Road Company, South Carolina, issued in 1869. 

The sale features several shares designed by artists of the time. L224, a share in the Goedkoope Antwerpsche Beenhouwerij, literally translated: 'cheap Antwerp butchery', was designed by one of Belgium's most talented sculptors: Jef Lambeaux. Among the other artists to be hammered are Hermann Gradl, L452, and Demetrios Galanis, L239. 

About 100 lots span three centuries of German insurance activities. Shown here is, L476 a 1961 specimen share certificate from the Allianz Versicherungs-Aktiengesellschaft. Allianz, one of the largest insurers in the world, is part of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. 

All major themes are represented such as railways, mining and government bonds. By means of the online search features you can find the lesser obvious themes as well. A few examples: 

• Bridges, L121 The Main Street Bridge Co, Indiana 
• Music, L242 EMI Ltd 
• Ceramics, L79 Ceramica Industrial de Osasco (Brazil)
• Casino, L461 Casino im Frankfurter Hof 

Another example is a share from the Tsingtao Brewery Company Ltd, China. The company originates from the Germania-Brauerei Tsingtao brewery founded in 1903 by English and German entrepreneurs. In 1993 it became the first Chinese firm listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. L23 was issued in 1996 to scripophily pioneer Wilhelm Kuhlmann. 

There is lots more to discover in the auction. Here are the auction details :

• Location: this is an Internet only auction
• Date: 18 January 2024 
• Further info : online catalog see here on the auctioneer's website, or via the Invaluable platform, see there  

F.L.

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