Veissid Auctions features 850 lots of antique stocks and bonds .. tomorrow!

My apologies for the timing, but here is a late incoming announcement for the Veissid Auctions' event that ends tomorrow. The auction features 850 lots of scripophily representing all parts of the world. 

Some examples:

This share from The Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company was issued in 1859. The vignette features a surveyor and a miner, a train approaching a bridge and a real-estate development map. The embossed company seal depicting a train is stunning. L(ot)37 starts at GBP60.

This 25 shares certificate in the Roodepoort United Main Reef Gold Mining Company was issued in 1900. The company registered in the South African Republic, then an independent Boer republic. Two years later, after the Second Boer War, the British Empire annexed the republic which became the Transvaal Colony. L243, a Waterlow & Sons print, may be acquired from GBP100. 

Yukon is the westernmost of Canada's three territories. Yet, the Yukon Gold Company was incorporated in the state of Maine, with a capital stock of $25,000,000. The company conducted hydraulic mining operations on Bonanza Creek, Klondyke River and Hunker Creek, Klondyke Gold Fields, Yukon Territory. This 100 shares certificate was issued in 1910 and printed by the New York Bank Note Company. L601 starts at GBP80. 

Scottish scripophily is not that common. This Campsie Public Hall Company share was issued in 1904 to Miss Anna B. Patton, then a Glasgow resident. The company ran a library and reading room. Printed by Gilmour & Dean somewhere in the 1800s century, L530 starts at GBP25.

There is a lot more to discover, so quickly have a look at Veissid Auctions here. 

F.L.

SPINK UK's first scripophily sale of 2022 presents Australian gold mines, British stone companies, American cattle businesses and lots more

SPINK UK launched its e-auction of world bonds & share certificates. 601 scripophily lots go on the block. The online sale started earlier this week, and its bidding window closes on Jan 31 at 12:00. The Down Under chapter in the sale consists of more than 50 lots. 

The Australasian Gold and Finance Corporation Ltd registered in 1896. The company dealt in mining properties in Western Australia, Victoria and Waihi, New Zealand. This share from 1897 has an exceptional vignette of a prospector with kangaroos and emus. L(ot) 39 in the auction starts at £50.

Here are some more Australian examples: 

• L16 Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company, 1859, vignette of surveyor and navvy presenting train on bridge, riverboat and map, embossed seal with train 
• The Central Australian Ruby Mining and Prospecting Co., Ltd, 1888, L45 
• Along the Howqua River archaeological quarry sites from the Taungurong people were found. The river area would later be mined by the Chief of Howqua Gold Mining Company, L48 
• Kelly's Freehold Gold Mining Company, Rutherglen, Victoria, 1898, wide vignette of mining operations, L65

The Canadian section features this £100 bond from the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway Company issued for 999 years in 1884. People bought these certificates which could be traded on the securities market. Though due in 2883, the Canadian Pacific Railway recently repaid the outstanding bonds. At £60, L385 is expected to attract buyers. 

A section of 30 Russian lots includes many Maikop oil certificates. 

About 150 lots of British bonds and shares, divided over several sections, represent themes such as canals, shipping, railways, mining, sports and entertainment. Some British examples :

• Several slate, stone and granite companies are offered, such as the Hard Stone Firms Ltd, see image below.
• The Grimwith Lead Mining Company, certificate for 2 ordinary shares, 1867, mines at Appletreewick, near Pateley Bridge, Yorkshire, embossed seal, fine vignette of mine entrance, L277
• A high denomination share of £10,000 in the Wheal Stackhouse Mining Company, L302, was issued in 1836, Truro. The company operated tin and copper mines in St. Enoder, Cornwall.
• The Crystal Palace housed the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park, London. It became a symbol of progress, L317 and L318
• Lot range 185 through 194 consists of 18th century South Sea annuities

The Hard Stone Firms, Limited was formed in 1897 with offices in Bath. The company owned granite quarries in Cornwall and Devon. Cornish granite was used for the Eddystone Lighthouse located on the dangerous Eddystone Rocks, roughly 15 miles south of Plymouth. The rocks submerge below the surface of the sea. The lighthouse appears both in the vignette and in the embossed seal. L278 in the auction.

The USA is the largest country represented in the auction. Several American sections cover themes like railways, mining, oil and turnpikes. This time there is also a nice series of livestock scripophily. Some examples with great vignettes: L570 Dale Land and Cattle Co. (Texas), L573 Lea Cattle Co. (New Mexico) and L576 North Moccasin Live Stock Co. (Montana).

L582 in the sale is this $1000 bond from the Union Cattle Company. Issued in 1886 it shows off its cow breed and the company's cow brand embossed in the gold seal. 

There is lots more to discover in this sale, so here are the details :

• Location : this is an Internet only sale
• Date : Jan 18 12:00 - Jan 31 12:00, 2022
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

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American mines, British rails, and lots more, are going on the block at Spink

SPINK's latest timed scripophily auction went live and ends at 11 AM BST on August 10, 2021. This online sale presents more than 500 lots of antique bonds and shares from all continents.

The Keystone Gold Mining Co. incorporated in New Jersey, 1888. This share, printed by Stewart, Warren & Co., shows a remarkable vignette of an arch with a prominent keystone locking the other stones in place. The company's mines were located at Miquel County, Colorado. L(ot) 474 in the auction 

The sale includes an impressive section of more than 70 American mining stocks and bonds. Some noteworthy examples :

• The Indian Queen Mining and Milling Company, 1881, mines at Esmeralda County, Nevada, vignette of native American woman, L447 
• The Klamath Placer Mining Company, $500 6% Gold Bond, vignettes of mine site and native American on horseback, 1902, L478, only 240 issued 
• The Helena Mining Company, certificate for 3000 shares of $10, 1891, fine vignette of mountain peak with train in valley, mine in Leadville, Colorado, L424

It was Sir Edward James Reed, Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy, who suggested the founding of The Channel Tubular Railway Preliminary Company Ld., in French : Société Préliminaire du Chemin de Fer Tubulaire de la Manche. The company planned the construction of a railway tunnel through the Channel to connect England with France like today's Eurotunnel. The project failed due to political considerations. This 5 Parts de Fondateurs, issued in London, 1892, with Reed's signature, shows the cliffs of England and France, and a train traveling through a tube across the Channel. L151

SPINK's British offerings cover themes like banking, mining, motor cars, but also less obvious ones like golf and horse racing. Here are some interesting certificates from the railway section :

• Parsonstown and Portumna Bridge Railway Company, £10 shares, 1861, then part of Great Britain, a rare Irish railway company with no happy ending (check catalog), L170 
• L148 is a certificate for 40 shares, issued Edinburgh, 1846, in the British and Irish Union Railway Company 
• London, Brighton, and South Coast Railway, 5% preferential £50 share, 1847, L165, rare  

 

The Australian Agricultural Company was formed in 1824 with a capital of £1 million and a grant from the Crown of 1 million acres of land in New South Wales. The company became one of the largest exporters of coal from the Colony and built its own railways - the first one in Australia - to serve its pits. Convicts formed a major employee type of the  AACo. The company still exists today operating feedlots and farms covering about 1% of Australia's land. It is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange as AAC. This early Australian share, with a Golden Fleece embossed seal, is one of the auction highlights. L2 

To conclude this post, here are some interesting items from the catalog's other sections :

• L95, Paarl Kohinoor Developing Syndicate, £25 share, ca 1889, South Africa, diamond mining, rare
• L297, and L298, are shares from The British Honduras Syndicate Ltd, 1890s, banana business, large and gorgious vignette !
• L138 is a 1916 bond from The Holy Synod of The Empire of Russia 
• Watertown and Madison Railroad Company, 2nd mortgage bond $1000, locomotive vignette, fine scrollwork, rare US railroad scripophily, L410

Gustave Doré, born in Strassbourg, France, was a succesful painter and illustrator. The exhibition of his work in London, 1867, led to the foundation of the Doré Gallery in Bond Street, London. The building became later Sotheby's London headquarters ! This share from 1890 shows a vignette of the artist. L251 

You can find more of these fascinating stocks and bonds in the SPINK online catalogue. Here are the auction details : 

• location & date : online only, this timed auction ends on : 10 Aug 2021, 11:00 AM BST
• online catalogue see here  

F.L.

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SPINK's e-Auction of bonds and shares is up and running !

SPINK's Bonds and Share Certificates of the World e-Auction is at present open for bidding. It presents 329 lots of antique bond and share certificates.

The first major section in the sale, over 40 lots of Australian scripophily, starts with a rare share in The Kalgoorlie Electric Tramways, L(ot) 4. Even more rare is a 1891 founders' share from The Midland Railway Company of Western Australia, Ltd, modestly estimated at £120-150, L6. Furthermore, a collection of securities illustrating the Australian land speculation of the 1880’s and the inevitable collapse in 1893 is part of the offerings. 

The Scot James Munro emigrated to Victoria in 1858 where he set up a printing business. He expanded into banking and promoting building societies, became rich, entered politics and engaged in land speculation. In 1881 he founded the Federal Building Society and the Federal Bank of Australia. In 1890 Munro became Premier of Victoria. When the land boom collapsed, his bank was the first bank to fail in the subsequent banking crisis of 1893. Munro's  companies left debts of over ₤600,000. The Australasian newspaper of April 22, 1893, reported that he was attacked and beaten unconscious in a Melbourne street by a man who had been ruined in the crash. 

James Munro signed this 1883 share certificate, L19 in the sale.

The Great Britain and Ireland section counts nearly 70 lots. Some examples 

• Neptune, a masterpiece vignette from the American Bank Note Company, presents a 1916 $5000 specimen bond from The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, L236.
• L302 Vauxhall Bridge Company, 1872, with extraordinary copper seal
• L271 The Greenock Steamship Company Ltd, vignettes of sailing ship and shipping flag, 1882.

There is also a unique group of about ten British Government SPECIMEN bonds, all of which are the only examples known and which should attract many bidders. Unique. As an example, there is L249, a 3% Conversion Loan 1948-1953 £100 specimen bearer bond, London, 1933, facsimile signature of N. K. Warren-Fisher as Treasury secretary, typed letter included.

One of the highlights in the sale is lot 253, a 1835 share from The Blaydon, Gateshead and Hebburn Railway Company.

The Blaydon, Gateshead and Hebburn Railway Company Act 1834 authorized for the "making and maintaining a railway from Blaydon to Hebburn with six branches thereout, all within the county of Palatine of Durham". The railway was established in 1834, leaving the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway at Blaydon and running eastwards along the river Tyne on its south bank in order to provide an outlet for coal mined in the Tanfield area. With only a small portion of the intended 11 miles built, the Newcastle and Carlisle took over the line in 1836. This share was printed on vellum and issued in 1835 to John Lionel Hood, mayor of Newcastle in 1834-35. Newcastle's Hood street was named after him. 

T. Challoner made this drawing of a steam train with coal wagons, ship at dockside, mine buildings and a windmill in the distance. It was the talented William Collard who engraved this unusual large and detailed vignette. Collard specialized in map and landscape engraving. He engraved a map of Durham in 1834, and in 1841 he published his Architectural and Picturesque Views in Newcastle upon Tyne. 
Lot 253 in the auction, estimated at £3000-4000. Click image to enlarge

SPINK's e-Auction includes scripophily from countries around the globe, except from the USA which will have its own separate sale at the end of June, says specialist Mike Veissid.

Here are some more  fascinating examples of SPINK's current event  :

• L153 Kingdom of Denmark, 34 Year 4.5% External Loan Gold Bond of $1000, 1928, facsimile signature of historian and former Prime Minister of Denmark Niels Neergaard, large vignette of the Christiansborg Palace, the seat of the Danish Parliament
• L221 Schlusselbourg Calico Printing Company (Manufacture d'Indiènnes de la Compagnie de Schlusselbourg), 1000 Roubles share, text in Russian, English and French, St. Petersburg, 1869, see also L222 & L223
• L323 From Colombia, Timbiqui Gold Mines Company Limited, £1 share, 1900, large vignette of gold panning on a riverbank
• If you are into James Bond, then L78 might be something for you. This debenture from The Cathay Land Company, Limited, was issued to William Johnston Keswick in 1933. Keswick was Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Council preceding the Pacific War and survived a murder attempt by the Japanese in Shanghai. He became head of the China Theatre of the Special Operations Executive, Britain's wartime secret service, known as "Churchill's Secret Army". After WW II a part of SOE's personnel became agents of MI6.

Several certificates in the sale are issued to or signed by Jewish entrepreneur Eleazor Silas Kadoorie who, together with his brother, made fortune in the banking, rubber, real estate and electric power business.  This share from The Semambu Rubber Estates, Ld., was issued in 1932 and signed by Kadoorie. The company incorporated in Hong Kong and its capital was divided in shares of 10 candareens each. In imperial China, 10 candareens equaled 1 mace which was ​one tenth of a tael. Eleazor Silas Kadoorie imprisoned in 1942 by the Japanese died 2 years later in prison. L97 in the auction.

Make sure you check out more appealing scripophily online. Here are the details :

• Location : this is an Internet only sale
• Date : Apr 16 15:00 - May 05 11:00.
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

Museums Victoria deliver engaging online experience

The Museums Victoria (MV) manages the Melbourne Museum, the Immigration Museum, Scienceworks and Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building. Its history goes back to the founding of the National Museum of Victoria in 1854.

Today, MV is home to over 17 million historic artefacts and science objects and welcomes more than 2 million visitors per year. Its MV Collections site gives virtual visitors a fresh and adequate experience by means of modern Internet techniques.

Company seal of The Federal Bank of Australia Limited, detail from the certificate below 

image attribution : Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1114702 

The many MV collections relate to geology, palaeontology, zoology, and, social, indigenous, cultural, economic and technological history. Its Trade Literature Collection contains over 60,000 business brochures, advertisements, product catalogues and the like. The Numismatics & Philately Collection comprises thousands of coins, paper money, medals, stamps and some scripophily as well.

A considerable part of its records, more than 1 million, together with 150 000 images, has been digitized and put available online on the Museums Victoria Collections site. Here's is one of the listed share certificates, indicated as item 1114702.

This share certificate in The Federal Bank of Australia Limited , printed by Sands & McDougall, Melbourne, was issued in 1887. Established in 1881 this bank started to issue its own banknotes in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. A speculative boom in Australian real estate led to the Australian banking crisis of 1893 and the bank was forced to close down.

image attribution : Museums Victoria, https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1114702

On MV's 'item 1114702' page, see THERE, you can see the image as shown here. But there is more. The page gives you a summary and a description of what you see. And, just as if you were attending a guided tour, an explanation is given on the significance of the displayed item.

The overview concludes with a list of clickable keywords letting you discover more about the related collection, collecting areas and classifications, people, places, dates, articles and images, possibly of other scripophily. Wow! It is from functionality like this where this site's added value comes from. For free, and a few mouse-clicks away.


F.L.

Related links

• Museums Victoria - Australia's largest public museum organisation 
• Museums Victoria Collections 
• MV's search page 

NB: More Australia related posts ? Check these   

The Mines of New South Wales 1897

The total output of coal in the colony for the year 1896 is officially recorded as 3,999,517 tons, valued at £1,125,280, while prior to 1829 the total amount produced was 50,000 tons, valued at £25,000.

The increase for last year on the preceding twelve months was 170,927 tons, and with the exception of the yield in 1891, which was 4,037,929 tons, the output was the highest for any year since the opening of the coal fields in 1829. 

Excerpt from The Mines of New South Wales 1897

Captain James Cook discovered New South Wales (NSW) in 1770 when he traveled along the unmapped eastern coast of Australia. NSW was originally a part of The Colony of New South Wales, a British penal colony that covered half of the Australian mainland, New Zealand and other islands in the Pacific Ocean. Coal mining in NSW began in the 1790s, but soon other minerals were discovered like copper, gold, tin, diamonds and much more.

When groundwater becomes an obstacle when digging deeper underground, pumps can remove the unwanted water from the mine. Dewatering often causes environmental problems when acid mine drainage can seep into the waterways. 

C. W. Carpenter compiled a mining manual for NSW, The Mines of New South Wales 1897. The book was published by George Robertson & Co. A copy from the New York Public Library was digitized by Google. It is available on the Internet Archive, a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more.. 

The book contains an overview of more than 1,300 mines grouped by mining district (MD) : 

Albert, Bathurst, Clarence & Richmond, Cobar, Hunter & Macleay, Lachlan, Mudgee, New England, Peel & Uralla, Southern MD, Tambaroora and Turon, Tumut and Adelong.

Topics covered in several smaller chapters :

Batteries and Ore Reducing Works, Exploration Flotation and Promoting Companies, Cinnabar, Coal & Shale, Cobalt, Copper, Diamonds, Emeralds, Gold, Iron, Opals, Platinum, Shale, Silver & Lead, Tin.

Though not always where the reader expects it in the book, alphabetical indexes are included :

• Mines
• Legal Managers & Secretaries
• Mine Managers
• Mining Officials and Wardens
• Mining Patents

The New Australian Broken Hill Consols, Limited

Stock certificate for shares of £1, issued 1899

This certificate was sold in Mario Boone's April 2017 auction for €80. 
image courtesy Mario Boone  

One of the companies listed in the book is The New Australian Broken Hill Consols, Limited. The company owned silver-lead properties in the Broken Hill area in the Albert Mining District. The three signatures on the certificate can easily be identified from the book :

• Director : Standish Grady
• Director : John Henry Ward (Chairman)
• Secretary : F. Hartman

No doubt about it, the book is a valuable reference for anyone interested in Australian mining scripophily. You can find a downloadable PDF version of the book on the Internet Archive here. However, that version is (currently?) not searchable. If you want to search the volume on key words, then you can use this link. 

F.L.

Scripophily magazine reveals early Fiji scripophily

The International Bond & Share Society (IBSS) recently launched its 105th issue of Scripophily magazine. IBSS started 40 years ago and since then has been encouraging collecting of antique securities. The society publishes its flagship, Scripophily magazine,  three times a year and also offers a free newsletter.

This time the magazine counts over 50 pages illustrated with more than 100 images of bonds and shares.  An overview of the stories :

• Digging scripophily at the Carrera Marble Quarries 
• "Numismatics, meet Scripophily" exhibit at the American Numismatic Association Convention 
• The Newport Casino 
• Rogues Gallery, extract from Hollender's Financing the World
• Scripophily of the Gold Coast and Ghana 
• Animal vignettes 
• U.S. Presidents on Scripophily 
• Profile and history of the Warner Company 
• Southern Revenue-stamped stock certificates of the Civil War Era, part II 
• "Selling the Stock", about the use of securities as advertising and promotion material 
• The New York Produce Exchange 
• Cox's Corner, the periodical column on our hobby 

Other recurring topics are : society matters, news, bourse reviews, auction reviews, events calendar, member classifieds, book reviews, interviews, letters to the editor and the like. 

The auction section includes tens of reports from sales in Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, UK and USA. Noted top sellers were shares from the Compagnie des Indes, Bank of China and a BMW founder's specimen share. The magazine provides more details on these and hundreds of other lots auctioned over the past months worldwide. One eyecatcher was a Fiji share sold by Downies, Australia, illustrated below.

Downies 324th sale ran from 18th to 20th July 2017. The auction took place in Box Hill, Victoria, Australia, and included a remarkable, early Fijian share certificate from The Polynesia Company, Limited. 

The Polynesia Company, Limited 

certificate for £2 shares, 1869 

An alert collector purchased this early Fiji scripophily 

for (only) A$120, buyer's premium not included. 

image : Downies

Before Fiji became a British colony in 1874, its government was dominated by European settlers. The Polynesia Company incorporated 7th Dec 1868 after purchasing around 200,000 acres of land around Suva in Fiji. The land was bought from local chiefs including warlord Cakobau, a former cannibal before he was christened in 1854. Because of the rising price of cotton following the American Civil War (1861-1865), the company had become interested in acquiring land in Fiji for planting cotton. However, several legal issues arose when it turned out that the land Cakobau had sold was not completely his to give. 

Not a member of IBSS yet ?
Then these links should help you out :

•  International Bond & Share Society 
•  free sample of Scripohily magazine 
•  free newsletter 
•  IBSS on Facebook 

F.L.

Scripophily magazine celebrates 100 issues

The "World Auction Sales" table in Scripophily magazine reports the performances of auctions over the preceding period. Auctions are measured by the number of lots offered, sell ratio and the corresponding turnover. Also, included is eBay as an auction platform. Did you know that, over the period Dec 2015 - Feb 2016, the average lot price recorded in eBay's scripophily section was €14 in Europe, and €23 in the US (*).

(*) after applying cleansing operations on the data, such as eliminating double counted lots, because some auctioneers sell simultaneously through eBay

Scripophily magazine No. 100 - April 2016

Scripophily magazine was first published in 1982 under the name The Bond & Share Society Journal. In April 2016 the International Bond & Share Society honoured the joyous occasion of the journal's hundredth publication with a separate 44-page commemorative section, printed nostalgically in black and white on A5 paper size. The magazine has come a long way. Editor Max Hensley explains:

A technological advance of great importance for Scripophily (magazine) has been the Internet. The Dec 2015 issue contained an article written in Turkey, edited in the US and composed in the UK, all within weeks. This would have been impossible before the internet.

Editor Max adds that today, the magazine appears on high quality paper, articles are longer and brought with more images in full color. Journals from the 1990s contained an average of 5 auction reports whereas now the issue reports about twenty to thirty auctions. Every issue was produced " .. without paying a penny for content."

" The hollow surprise of the Londonderry Gold Mine is one
of the articles from the commemorative section in Scripophily
magazine, written by Anne Marie Hendy. It reads like Harry Potter."
, says this unshaven blogger.

As usual, this issue brings society matters, market news, bourse reviews, auction reviews, an events calendar, member classifieds, book reviews, interviews and lots of pictures of collector friends and bonds and shares. The commemorative section contains the following set of snapshots from the first two decades :

• Out of the ordinary bonds in out of the way auction, a comic essay
• The formation of British companies to 1856
• Further "nuggets" from Western Australia : The hollow surprise of the Londonderry Gold Mine
• Coastal shipping - a brief, about British coastal shipping scripophily
• The expensive business of raising railway loans : the Shanghai-Nanking Loan Agreement
• The "Train Renard"
• Auction reports, reports on the F.H.W. and Witula auctions from 1992
• Dome and Lakeshore - two top Ontario gold mines
• Trillion $$$ Standard Oil stock comes home !
• UK Tramways - a neglected field of scripophily
• The King George's Sound Company - the American/Chinese fur trade in 1785
• Philoscripy? Bonditry? Shyloxis? , explains the origins of the word scripophily
• Dangerous Edison forgeries on the market
• HP Magazin, a summary from HP magazine Jan 1996
• Share companies in Soviet Russia
• A major art thief signs shares, the story of Arsène Goedertier and the Plantexel  company
• The man who robbed the Robber Barrons, about William Mann, founder of the Mann's Boudoir Car Company
• Otto Mears, Colorado railroad pioneer
• Art Nouveau-Jugendstil
• Scripophily in Tokyo
• Go West, yunger Mann ! , German immigrants in Texas

Scripophily magazine is a publication from IBSS .

F.L.

Booklet : 1984 Exhibition of Antique Bonds and Share Certificates at the Sydney Stock Exchange

In 1984, more than 30 years ago, the Sydney Stock Exchange was home to what was probably one of the first scripophily exhibitions on the Australian continent.

Automatic Telephones (Australasia) Limited
Deferred shares of 1/- each , 191x
black and white photocopy from the booklet
double-click image to enlarge

Author Estella C. Robinson introduces us into the fascinating world of the 

scrip collector and researcher .. who .. thrives on debacles, failures, 

conspiracies, frauds - the more spectacular the better.

The certificate is the tangible surviving link which breathes life into history. 

Estella Robinson passed away in 1985 and was a pioneer when introducing the hobby of scripophily through numerous columns in Australian Coin Review magazine.

 

• Title : Exhibition of Antique Bonds and Share Certificates, January 16 to 27, 1984
• Authors : Estella Camhi Robinson
• ID : no ISBN number, printed by The Sydney Stock Exchange Limited, 1984
• Languages : English
• Number of pages : 26
• Images : 13 large black and white images 
• Indexes : no index

The booklet is a low-cost photocopy publication, hence the lower quality of the images. Thirteen Australian certificates are depicted and described with a brief historic company profile.

Other numismatic publications by the author :

• Seven Seas guide to Australian coins and tokens, Dubbo : Seven Seas Stamps, 1981 
• A guide to Australian coins, Sydney Readers Digest Services, 1978 

F.L.

Related link :

• Old Scrip Tells of Companies Past, 1993, article by Greg Reeves

Printers : Wild & Beissel

The small certificate shown below is a debenture of an Australian masonic society. It was printed by Wild & Beissel, Printers .

Mordialloc Lodge, No. 258, debenture of 5 pounds, 1925
Mordialloc is a suburb in Melbourne.
double-click image to enlarge

On the left side, the certificate tells us that Wild & Beissel was located at 240 Little Lonsdale Street in Melbourne. They also printed books such as The Australasian Butchers' Manual: A Modern Book of Reference for Butchers, Smallgoodsmen, Bacon Curers, Farmers, Etc  , compiled by William John Trevena and published in 1936. Likely, Wild & Beissel was not a real security printer. I don't remember seeing any other certificates from this printer. If you know of other examples, you can forward a scan for me to include in this post. Any other information about this printer is welcome.

F.L.

The Copper Handbook - a manual of the copper mining industry of the world

image by Boone Shares

Following is a list of the elements with which copper is found chemically united in nature. This list includes 29 of the 77 elements known to science at this writing. Following the name of each element is its chemical symbol and atomic weight, as now figured by the best authorities : 

Aluminium Al 27.1

Antimony Sb 120

Arsenic As 75

Bismuth Bi 208.3

Calcium Ca 40.1

Carbon C 12

Chlorine Cl 35.45

Cobalt Co 59

Copper Cu 63.6

Hydrogen H 1.01

Iron Fe 56

Lead Pl 206.9

Manganese Mn 55

Nickel Ni 58.7

Niobium Nb 93.7

Nitrogen N 14.04

Oxigen O 16

Phosphorus P 31

Platinum Pt 195

Selenium Se 79.2

Silicon Si 28.4

Silver Ag 107.93

Sulphur S 32.06

Tellurium Te 127.5

Tin Sn 119

Tungsten W 184

Uranium U 240

Vanadium V 51.4

Zinc Zn 65.4

Excerpt from The Copper Handbook 1903, Vol. III for the year 1902, page 27

More than 2000 copper mines in all parts of the world

Scripophily auctioneers and a few blessed collectors use the book for researching companies. The 1903 issue contains 2207 company profiles. Most of the mines included are located in the USA, others are active in the following countries: Argentina, Austria, Australia, Algeria, Bolivia, Canada, Chili, Cuba, France, India, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Rhodesia, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, UK and much more, even Sudan and New Caledonia. Many company descriptions span tens of lines, sometimes several pages. As an example, I included the profile of the Parrot Silver and Copper Company:

Parrot Silver and Copper Company
shares of 10 Dollars, issued in 1904, Butte, Montana
printed by Western Banknote Company, Chicago
In the Copper Handbook Vol. III the company
was ranked 25th in the list of largest copper producers.
double-click image to enlarge

PARROT SILVER & COPPER CO. - MONTANA
Mine office: Butte, Silver Bow Co., Montana. Harry A. Galway, superintendent. Has a stock issue of 230,000 shares, bulk of which is held by the Amalgamated Copper Co. This company is mixed up to some extent in the litigation that is so unpleasant a feature of mining operations in Butte. Principal mines are the Little Minah and Parrot, opened circa 1884. Company holds 19 claims in all, mostly well located. A barren zone occurs at a depth of about 1,000' , but good ore bodies are found below. Production is at the rate of about 12,000,000 pounds yearly. The ores carry fair values in silver and gold, as well as copper. Mine employs 300 to 400 men, when working full force. The Little Minah mine has a 1,000' two-compartment shaft connected underground with the Nipper. The Parrot mine is about 1,700' deep, main shaft having 3 compartments to 400' level and 4 compartments below, connected underground with Colusa-Parrot, Never Sweat, Nipper and Original mines.

detail from the Parrot Silver and Copper Company's stock certificate
vignette of a brainy parrot claiming his ingot (I want a parrot like that)

This book is encyclopedic

Do you know the meaning of following terms or expressions? Watch out! I can not pronounce some of these words I. Don't hurt yourself in the act.

• pertenencia: one mineral claim in Mexico; area, one hectare or 2,471 acres
• cutting down: when a shaft is enlarged, work begins at the top, and the work of enlargement is called cutting down
• dognacskaite: a sulphide of bismuth and copper; carrying about 12% copper; from Hungary
• pinching out: the narrowing of a vein to extinction

When was the first copper shipment from the Australian continent ? Answer: 1843

What was the world's largest mine in the early 1900s ? Answer: The Anaconda Copper Mining Company, Butte, Montana, producing more than 100,000,000 Pounds in 1901.

Digest of scripophily readings V

New online scripophily articles and references, July 2012

The current footprint of scripophily on the Internet

About a year ago, see here, I googled the word scripophily with the following outcomes :

• Number of web links : 470000 (50% related to Ebay)
• Number of images : 92900
• YouTube video's : 26

I repeated that exercise two weeks ago :

• Number of web links: 623000 (40% related to Ebay), or +32%
• Number of images : 135000, or +45%
• YouTube videos : 34, or +31%

Fairly impressive growth rates!  More people write about our hobby and they do it more often. The scripophily content on the Internet is only a footprint created by an online community:  the tip of an iceberg.

Shares and Bonds from Czechoslovakia

Jiří Jaroš has been active on the Internet for some time now. Here you can find his impressive online catalogue on Czechoslovak securities. Thank you for sharing with us!

Book on the art and history of banknote engraving in the United States

CoinsWeekly reports about The Feel of Steel by Mark D. Tomasko. Many techniques for banknote engraving are used in security printing. Read more about this new book here.

Australian Mining Standard 1913

You can find a bundling of articles from The Australian Mining Standard, originally published between January and June 1913, here. On the left of the web page, click the PDF link to view the document. Size about 120 MB's, so depending on your network connection speed, it may take a while before it is downloaded. Though the majority of the articles are related to mining companies, you will discover many others related to oil companies, banks, electric utilities, tramways, et cetera.

War bonds for everyone

A smal but interesting story about American war bonds and stamp books,  told by the Museum of American Finance, see here.

double-click to enlarge

der aktiensammler

In addition to the articles above, the latest June 2012 No.3/12 issue of der aktiensammler magazine, contains the following stories (in German) :

• Assignaten -  die Finanzalchemie der Franzosen, English : Assignats - paper money from the French Revolution (part 9 in a series on the evolution of money)
• Die Ebay-Spekulation läuft und läuft, in English: Ongoing speculation on Ebay
• Ebay- und Auktionsrenner : Die Obligationen der Zwangsanleihen Jérômes, or in English : The napoleonic forced loan bonds of the Kingdom of Westphalia
• Die Deutschen Werkstätten Hellerau : Erschwingliches "Schöner Wohnen", freely translated : German Workshops Hellerau : affordable design furniture
• Die Deutschen Werkstätten-Aktie aus kunsthistorischem Blickwinkel, English : The share of the Deutsche Werkstätten from an art historic perspective
• other periodical topics : Auction Reviews, Collector's Portrait, Events Calendar, Classifieds

F.L.

Book : Terra Australis

• Title : Terra Australis - An Adventurous Financial History of Australian Shares and Loans / Abenteuer australischer Finanzgeschichte in Aktien und Anleihen
• Authors : Michael P.A. Liebig
• ID: ISBN 3-89090-706-7, published by Markt & Technik Verlag AG, 1988
• Languages : English, German
• Number of pages : 175
• Images : black & white, multiple images on almost every page
• Indexes : no indexes

In this book the author takes the reader on a journey through the historical development of Australia. Many images from share certificates, maps, engravings and other ephemera are included. Certificates seen from the following themes : banking, agriculture, schools, state bonds, textile, tobacco, mining (coal, copper, tin, etc.) , gold, food, oil, railways, transport, forestry, shipping, automobiles, aviation, metal works, film, breweries, sports.

Chapters :

• A Passage through History
• The Share conquers Australia
• 50 Years after James Cook
• Pressing for Gold
• Australia under Steam
• From Hell to Hope
• Australia becomes mobile
• Flying Doctors, Cackling of Hens and a School in the Air
• And to conclude

A must have for the serious collector of Australian scripophily !

F.L.

  

NB:

Did anyone compile an index of the shares illustrated in this book ?

I would be happy to add the index to this post.

Reference catalogue : World War II Remembered



• Title : World War II Remembered, history in your hands - a numismatic study
• Authors : C. Frederick Schwan, Joseph E. Boling
• ID : ISBN 0-931960-40-1, published by BNR Press 1995
• Languages : English
• Number of pages : 864
• Images : black and white, almost on every page and often more than 1 page
• Indexes : 1. by Country/Territory, 2. by keyword

This catalogue, a heavy large format book, is astonishing, phenomenal, enlightening. It describes the numismatic objects in the broad sense issued during World War II by governmental and nongovernmental organizations : allied nations, axis nations, occupied nations, occupation governments, armies, governments-in-exile, local authorities, army camps, local companies and merchants, and even psychiatric institutions. 

Numismatic objects discussed : notes, coins, gold coinage, camp money, checks, orders, decorations and medals, loans and bonds, counterfeits, numismatic ephemera, postage stamps, lottery tickets, ...

The Country quick list contains about 150 countries or political territories.

Bonds and loans are included for the following territories : Australia, Bulgaria, Burma, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea, Malaya, Mongolia, Newfoundland, New Zealand, Palestine, Poland, Straits Settlements, Taiwan, USA, USSR, Yugoslavia