Over 1500 lots of historic securities go on the block in FHW's upcoming sale, including an amazing share from Frederick the Great's Chinese trading company !

Freunde Historischer Wertpapiere (FHW) has scheduled its next sale for October 8, 2022. This time the auctioneer selected more than 1500 lots of historic bonds and share certificates. Major sections have been reserved for scripophily from Germany, the German DM era, USA and a series of more than 200 lots from other countries worldwide.

One of the highlights in the sale is this share in the Hippodrom-A.-G. Frankfurt am Main. The company was founded in 1897. Its main building was used to promote equestrian sports in public events and festivities and had the largest indoor riding arena of Germany. Allied bombing destroyed the hippodrome during WW II. Reportedly only four of these shares were discovered in the 1980s. L(ot) 756 in the auction is expected to realize €2,800. 

The German chapter presents over 750 lots from the pre-DM period and covers all regions and branches. A dedicated Deutschland Top 20 section, lot range 748-767, bundles the high-end items.  The auction also includes the Klaus H Reifenrath Collection consisting of 69 rare Kux and mining shares from the Siegerländer Erzrevier mining area.

The auction includes several shares designed in Art Deco. This one, issued in 1922 by the Mechanische Buntweberei J. Sim. Fleißner Aktiengesellschaft, a textile company from Münchberg, illustrates one of the company's modern fabric designs. L730 starts at €100. 

All lots are well-illustrated with high quality images on the Invaluable online platform. However, the Top 20 section includes even more in-depth information with extra illustrations in the catalog's PDF version (links see further below). 

Some examples from the German chapter  :

• The Central-Afrikanische Seeen-Gesellschaft operated gold mines and saltworks in the African Great Lakes region, then part of German East Africa. Seeen is German for lakes. This 1000 mark share was issued in Hamburg, 1902 and starts at €900, L384.
• The 1855 share from the Steinkohlenbau-Verein zu Rochlitz, a coal mine company, shows the city of Rochlitz, gnomes at work and an explosion in their mine, mined rock with imprints of fossilized plants and lots more. Extremely rare, this is in my opinion the most awesome German share certificate. L763, a top item, starts at €9,000.
• L926 starts at €320. The share from the Sundwiger Eisenhütte Maschinenbau-Actiengesellschaft displays a lovely Jugendstil design.

Time to highlight the absolute top item in the auction.

Four years after Frederick the Great became King in Prussia he annexed in 1744 the independent city-state of Embden (Emden), then the most important trade port on the North Sea. Eager to give Prussia a share of the Asian trade similar to the V.O.C. or the British East India Co., Frederick the Great granted the privilige in 1751 to found the Emden Trading Company. 

The company, also known as the Königlich Preußische Asiatische Compagnie in Embden nach Canton und China (Royal Prussian Asiatic Company in Emden to Canton and China) was allowed to conclude contracts with foreign Asian rulers in the name of the King of Prussia. The Emden company owned four ships that made six voyages to Canton bringing back tea, porcelain and other goods. 

The company operated independently - the king's main interest was filling the Prussian (war) treasury - and became the first modern German stock corporation, i.e. without state influence.

The share, L760 in the auction, issued in 1752 for 500 Reichsthaler in Friderichs d'Or is the oldest German share known. 

It is also the oldest share in the German language. A complete translation of the text on the obverse, as well as a hint on its non-German provenance, can be found in the latest issue of Scripophily magazine, No. 119 August 2022. 

The clipping shown here says [..the Company's ships which shall sail] to Canton in China as well as other places in India .. . The document must be the oldest known share mentioning the word China as well. Start price €50,000.

The sale's Deutsche Mark section comprises of more than 230 lots, including a Top 20 chapter. To mention a few : L1146 is a 20 shares certificate in the Erste Kulmbacher Actienbrauerei AG (EKU), 1990, showing the company's logo with crown and prize medals, €75; L1249 Teutoburger Wald-Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, Hamburg, 1951, unissued share, starts at €200. 

The Aachener Kleinbahn-Gesellschaft and the Rheinischen Elektricitäts- und Kleinbahnen AG merged in 1942 into the Aachener Strassenbahn und Energieversorgungs-AG (ASEAG). The company provided local public transport in the Aachen city region. During the Battle of Aachen, 1944, Allied troops used tramcars loaded with explosives and ammunition as rolling bombs on the sloping routes from Siegel and Grundhaus to the city center, which, however, caused little damage. This share, from 1954, shows a high voltage power pole and tram car in the underprint. Bids for L1088 are welcome from €40 onwards. 

The USA section features more than 200 lots. Here are some interesting examples to look for:

• L1429 is stock certificate in the Lamb's Run Oil Company coming from an old collection. Printed by Chandler from Philadelphia, 1865, it shows two vignettes of early oil derricks. The company was incorporated in Venango County, Pennsylvania where the biggest oilboom sparked only a few years earlier. €100
• Confederate States of America, 8% $100 bond from 1862, large vignette of the city of Richmond and portrait of C. G. Memminger, L1378, €300
• €380 may buy you a Laramie, Hahns Peak and Pacific Railway Company 100 common shares certificate issued in 1912. The company was incorporated in Wyoming. The shares of this company are illustrated with 3 vignettes of a locomotive, lumberjacks and miners at work, Cox cat nr LAR-083-S-51. L1430

This share from the Compañia Ron Bacardi can be found in the sale's Ausland section (foreign countries). The company was founded in 1862 in Cuba and became worldwide known for its white rum and derived cocktails such as the Cuba Libre and the Daiquiri. The share depicts bats, the company logo, a bottle of Bacardi rum and many of its prize medals won at contests. It is issued to Emilio Bacardi y Rossell, great grandchild of Facundo Bacardi Massó, founder of Bacardi, and grandchild of Emilio Bacardi Lay, mayor of Santiago de Cuba. Note that the certificate was issued in 1955 during the Cuban Revolution. The Bacardi family left the country in 1960 after the government confiscated the company's assets in 1960. L102 starts at €150. 

There is a lot more to discover in the sale, so here are the details :

• Date : 8 October, 2022
• Location : Wolfenbüttel 
• Further info, see here; PDF catalog see there; live bidding is possible through https://connect.invaluable.com/dwa/  

F.L.

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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.

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. 

-

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.

-

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 ?

The Brussels Stock Exchange .. on stocks

Brussels has a fascinating stock exchange building. 

Have you already had the opportunity to run up and down 

the large stairs at the entrance between the two giant stone lions. 

And did you admire the impressive pediment?  

How did the building get there in the first place?

Banque Auxiliaire de la Bourse
detail from the certificate below
double-click image to enlarge

By decree of Napoléon

The first stock exchange in Brussels was established in 1801 under the government of Napoléon in Belgium. The former Saint Augustine Convent was chosen for the original premises. After the convent buildings were sold, the exchange continued its business in the national mint, the Hôtel des Monnaies. When the mint re-opened in 1820, the brokers rented a house on the Rue Guillaume, now called the Rue Léopold. By the 1850s that building was becoming too small for the growing activity.  

Banque Auxiliaire de la Bourse
founder's share, 1895 Brussels
printed in blue color tints by Lith de la Cote Libre

Architect Léon Suys designs a larger building

In 1858, no fewer than 11 petitions for building a new and larger stock exchange building were handed to the city council. It was the eclectic design of the Belgian architect Léon Suys that was chosen for the new exchange. The building could be entered through several imposing doorways under the decorated pediments.  

Banque Auxiliaire de la Bourse
detail from the certificate above
Also the renewal coupon depicts the exchange.

Not Belgian but English entrepreneurs start building

In 1866, an agreement was made between the city council and the (English) Belgian Public Works Co Ltd for the cleansing and overvaulting of the Zenne river and the erection of  the new stock exchange building. The overvaulting made possible the construction of a wide traffic axle between the north and south railway stations. Along this axle, the mayor J Anspach wanted the construction of prestigious buildings: the new exchange would be the crown jewel. BPWC contracted the Waring Brothers, English entrepreneurs in public and railway construction, for the building of the exchange.  In 1868 on average, 99 workers and 26 horses were employed on the construction site every day.

Comptoir International de Banque et de Change
detail from the share below

Léon Suys sees a way out during the Franco-German war

In 1869, after the completion of the foundations and the substructure of the building, the architect Suys took over the Warings’ job, becoming both architect and builder. In 1870, the supply of building stone from the French quarries in Anstrude and Ravière was interrupted by the Franco-German war. A solution was found: the quarries on the English Isle of Portland could provide stone of similar colour and quality. The City of Brussels took over the management of the project after BPWC went into liquidation in 1871.  Finally in 1873, King Léopold II and Queen Marie-Henriette attended the inauguration ceremony. The building was completed in 1874. 

Comptoir International de Banque et de Change
preferred share of 100 Francs, 1901
splendid Art Nouveau design, printer unknown.

Léon Suys' stock exchange is rarely seen on share certificates

So much for a little of the history. Only a few share certificates are known with a vignette of the Brussels stock exchange.  I still know only four types of certificates:

• Banque Auxiliaire de la Bourse, part de fondateur, 1895
• Comptoir International de Banque et de Change, action privilégiée de 100 Francs, 1901. An action ordinaire is also known
• Société Financière Liégeoise, action de capital de 500 Francs, 1925, best known in unissued form
• CODEP-Banque Nagelmackers, bon de caisse, 1995, large underprint of the stock exchange, no further details known, unfortunately no image available

I would be very interested to hear about other types.

F.L.

Société Financière Liégeoise

share of 500 Francs, 1925, issued (rare)

printed by H. Wolf from Liège

References

• Ter Beurze, by Geert De Clercq (in Dutch and French), pub. Tijd 1992, ISBN: 9069660814 

PS : This article is based on the one written for the May 2006 issue of Scripophily magazine, published by IBSS.

Brussels Stock Exchange post card, around 1900

IBSS Mail Bid Auction - October 2015

The International Bond and Share Society, sets its next (members only) auction date to 2 October 2015. This auctions counts more than 200 lots, representing about 40 countries and an equal number of themes. 

Paleis voor Volksvlijt te Amsterdam

in English: Amsterdam Crystal Palace

Share of 2.5 Gulden, 1869

lot 138 in the auction

double-click image to enlarge

--

Founded 1856 to exploit a building for national and international exhibitions

 of industry, theatrical and musical performances. The palace, based on 

Paxton’s Crystal Palace in London, was completed near the Frederiksplein 

in Amsterdam, 1864. Erected with glass and iron, it was the creation of 

Cornelis Outshoorn. Unfortunately, a fire destroyed this building on 18 april 1929.

(Description: Boone catalogue 2009 March)

--

The Dutch word "Volksvlijt" can be interpreted as diligence by the people.  By the 

mid 19th century, modern society urged people to hard work because labor promoted 

health and gave joy to life. However, early socialist beliefs soon stated that the concept 

of "hard work" was only a means to create more wealth for the people in the upper classes.

Amsterdam Crystal Palace, ca. 1890s

Source: Jacob Olie , via Wikimedia Commons

Practical auction info :

• Date : October 2, 2015
• 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.

The Dragons of the Banque Industrielle de Chine

China, a rich culture and more than 3000 years of written history. 

The vignettes on the share certificate of the Banque Industrielle de Chine 

represent a cross section of China's cultural heritage. 
Included in this post are some pictures from my trip to China last summer.

Banque Industrielle de Chine
English: Industrial Bank of China
Action Ordinaire de 500 Francs (ordinary share), 1913
Lithography printed by Charles Skipper & East
double-click image to enlarge

Power and good fortune for the emperor

For thousands of years, Chinese dragons symbolize power and good fortune. They are the rulers of moving bodies of water, such as waterfalls, rivers, or seas (Wikipedia). The Emperor of China used the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power. In contrast the Empress of China was identified by the mythological bird, Fenghuang.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is the main building of
the Temple of Heaven complex in Beijing. The building is depicted
in the certificate's underprint above. The circular wooden walls are
decorated with many golden dragons.
Picture: F. Leeuwerck

.. and initially for the Banque Industrielle de Chine

André Berthelot (1862–1938), French banker, politician and Director of the Pekin Syndicate , co-founds the Banque Industrielle de Chine (BIC) with the Belgian financier Edouard Empain. The Pekin Syndicate and the Chinese government are the largest shareholders of the bank. Quickly, the BIC obtains concessions for several important public works in Peking, Chinese ports, and railways. In 1914 the bank is allowed to issue Chinese banknotes. BIC expands quickly during WWI, offering very favourable rates of interest to its clients. Two decades earlier, another bank, the Banque de l'Indochine (BI), had started shifting its operations from French Indochina to China. BI, also representative of the French interests in handling the Boxer indemnity, watches how BIC becomes a competitor.

Stone relief of dragons on the steps at the Hall of Preserving Harmony,
Forbidden City, Beijing. The emperor would be carried in his sedan chair
over the stone carving and was the only person allowed to pass over it.
Picture: F. Leeuwerck

Something peculiar with those dragons.

The dragons in the BIC's vignette seem to guard a sun with the company's cypher (an interlacing or placing together of letters). However, it is not a sun but a flaming pearl, which you can also observe on the two photographs. The pearl is associated with wealth, good luck, and prosperity. Further, dragons representing the Emperor had 5-clawed feet while 4-clawed and 3-clawed dragons were used to represent nobles and common people. If you look carefully, you'll notice 4-clawed dragons on the BIC certificate. A diplomatic blunder by the designer of the certificate ? I'll come back to this point later.

left: detail from the right 4-clawed dragon on BIC's share
right : detail from a 5-clawed dragon on the Russian bond, see below

Russia Imperial Government
4% Bond of 5000 Mark
"Boxer" loan 1902

Disastrous outcome

In  1921, André Berthelot tries to raise money through the trading of Chinese government loans on the French financial market. The operation fails and the BIC loses vast sums. André then asks his brother Philippe for financial help. Philippe Berthelot is the Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in France and can convince Horace Finaly, President of the Banque de Paris et des Pays-bas, to support the BIC which was in financial difficulty. However, Paul Doumer, Governor-General of French Indochina from 1897 to 1902, at this time Minister of Finance and closely linked with the Banque de l'Indochine, refuses to save the BIC. Next, Philippe Berthelot secretly lobbies for a bailout by sending telegrams on behalf of Aristide Briand, the President of the Council without his knowledge. A political scandal breaks out. Both Philippe and Prime Minister Briand, who also supported the bailout, will be excluded from public office. Due to inadequate reserves, the Banque Industrielle de Chine goes bankrupt in 1922. Three years later, its assets were taken over by the new Banque Franco-Chinoise pour le Commerce et l’Industrie, established by the Banque de l'Indochine, the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, Banque Lazard and the Chinese government.

Blunder or perfection ?

So, what's the story about those dragons on the certificate. Shouldn't imperial dragons have 5 claws ? The answer is yes, but .. these are not imperial dragons, I suspect. At the time of incorporation of the Banque Industrielle de Chine, in 1913, the imperial dynasty was overthrown one year earlier. Last Emperor Puyi, still a child, abdicated 12 February 1912, after the successful Xinhai Revolution established the Republic of China (ROC). Non imperial dragons do not have 5 claws. The coin below shows the national emblem of the ROC with a 4-clawed dragon. The design on the BIC shares is diplomatically correct.

National emblem of the Republic of China on an early coin. At the left
of the dragon stands the mythological bird, Fenghuang, a symbol of high
virtue and grace, traditionally used to represent the Empress of China.
Source : Coin007.com

Despite diplomatic dragons and symbols of longevity (lower left and right corner) on its shares, history learned that the Banque Industrielle de Chine was short-lived.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

F.L.

Related links

• 30 juin 1921 - Scandale de la Banque Industrielle de Chine, on Herodote.net 
• Prins Diamant, By Vincent Mercier 
• Boone Shares - Scripophily Center, auction catalogue 2013 April 
• The Correspondence of G. E. Morrison 1912-1920,  By George Ernest Morrison 
• Wikipedia's Chinese dragon and Emperor Puyi 

To the pyramid of Cestius please !

There is no such thing as coincidence

In my previous post I portrayed the Romans as Egyptomaniacs. While doing some research for that article I found out about the pyramid that was built in Rome as a tomb for Caius Cestius. Shortly after the post was published, I continued reading the Women in Finance exhibition catalogue. To my big surprise, the catalogue showed that pyramid depicted on a share certificate. Well, some people say that coincidence does not exist. Wow !

Public-Auto
S.A. per il Servizio Delle Automobili da Piazza in Roma e Altrove
Share of 100 Lire, Rome 1908
image source Wertpapierwelt, Olten

The share was issued by the Italian Public-Auto company in 1908. Lovely designed in Stile Liberty, the Italian version of Art Nouveau,  the shares of this public transport company show two of the attractions in Rome that every tourist was supposed to see : the Castel Sant'Angelo and the Pyramid of Cestius.

Piramide Cestia

We already know the pyramid was built as a tomb for the Roman Caius Cestius, a Roman magistrate. It was built around 12 BC outside the city walls. It measures almost 30 m square at the base and is 37 m high. Like many ancient Egyptian pyramids, also this one was already plundered in Antiquity. In the year 270 the Vandals and the Juthungi, Germanic tribes, invaded northern Italy. The Roman emperor Aurelian responded with the construction of the Aurelian Walls, a 19 km long line of defensive walls around the city. In order to save expenses and speed up the completion existing buildings were incorporated into the structure. The Cestius pyramid was one of these and that explains largely why it is one of the best-preserved ancient buildings in Rome.

In the Middle Ages, people forgot about the origins of the pyramid. Overgrown with vegetation, the citizens of Rome believed it to be the tomb of Remus.  Between 1660-1662 Pope Alexander VII ordered the excavation of the pyramid upon which the ancient Roman inscriptions were rediscovered. The pope would later order Bernini to create an obelisk for him.

Today, Cestius pyramid is more than 2000 years old. It is located near the Porta Ostiensis, perhaps these days better known as the Porta San Paolo. Clearly Cestius wanted to be commemorated forever. I'm pretty sure that he'd loved to know about this remarkable piece of scripophily.

F.L.

Reference link : Wikipedia's Pyramid of Cestius

Doctor's diagnosis : Egyptomania

Which definition is most applicable to you?

1. Mania : an excessively interest, enthusiasm, or longing; a craze
2. Egyptomania : the fascination with ancient Egypt
3. Egyptology : the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art

As far as we know today, the oldest hieroglyphs, the writing system of
the ancient Egyptians, date from more than 5200 years ago (3200 BCE).

Egyptomania existed in Antiquity

Actually you are wrong if you think that Egyptomania is a modern phenomenon.  The Romans were Egyptomaniacs, at least a part of them. When their legions came home back from Egypt after long field marches and a voyage on a hot Mediterranean, they shipped most of Egypt's obelisks to Rome. Emperor Constantius II decorated the Circus Maximus with an obelisk. Wealthy Romans ordered the production of obelisks as replicas of the originals. These were manufactured in Egypt and even in Rome. It is known that the Romans held Egyptian costume parties: always a fun thing to do. Some of their villas were decorated with mosaics of Nile sceneries. Caius Cestius, a Roman magistrate even let built his own tomb in the shape of a pyramid.

Action Ordinaire, 1899, Bruxelles
Société Belge-Egyptienne de L'Ezbékieh
Printed by Lithog. du "Messager de Bruxelles"

Rediscovered by the Renaissance after nearly 1000 years

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, European interest in ancient Egypt almost disappeared for nearly a 1000 years. During the Crusades a few returned from Jerusalem with stories that spoke of Egypt and its monuments. Except for the attempts by medieval Muslim egyptologists, there was  no one anymore that could read the old hieroglyphs.

The Renaissance with renewed interest for Antiquity brought ancient Egypt back under the attention. In this period the first western travellers wrote about their voyage in Egypt. Here and there motives of lotus flowers, papyrus, sfinxes, scarabs and pyramids became decorative elements in various art disciplines. Even Pope Alexander VII commissioned the exceptionally gifted Bernini, sculptur and architect, to design an obelisk. Adventurers, not only coming from Europe, went on a treasure hunt after reading medieval manuscripts written by Arabs.

1 Share of 4 Egyptian Pounds, 1951
Credit Agricole D'Egypte

Napoleon sends a military and scientific expedition into Egypt

Under the pretext of protecting the French interests in Egypt, Napoleon sent his Armée D'Orient (Army of the Orient) on expedition to Egypt in 1798. A direct attack on Great Britain was beyond his possibilities, but by occupying Egypt he would try to establish French hegemony in the Orient and bar Great Britain's commerce route to India. Already in 1801 the Armée needed to withdraw. Napoleon's adventure in Egypte was a military fiasco and a human catastrophe with 15,000 French troops killed in action and another 15,000 by disease.

Bonaparte devant le Sphinx, 1867-1868
(Bonaparte before the Sphinx)
Jean-Léon Gérôme (1824-1904)

However the Egyptian campaign would mark the beginning for modern Egyptology and in its wake Egyptomania as well.  Opponents saw it as propaganda, the fact is that Napoleon sent, along with his troops, not less than 167 "savants" : mathematicians, astronomers, engineers, botanists, geographers, chemists, doctors, archaeologists, writers and artists.

Experts believe that the Pyramid of Cheops was built
in approximately 20 years around 2500 BC.
The pyramid consists of more than 2 million blocks put into place
at an average of more than 12 blocks per hour, day and night.
Remark: check the resemblance with this photo.

Napoleon's scientific team in Egypt had many tasks :

• mapping out roads for the army
• investigating the possibilities for a canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
• building mills for food supply
• describing as much as possible the ancient monuments of Egypt
• observing and drawing flora and fauna

5 Shares of 4 Pounds Sterling, 1908, Cairo
Banque Egyptienne de Commerce
Printed by B. Arnaud

Two publications ignite modern Egyptomania

Vivant Denon, who had joined Napoleon's expedition to Egypt as an archaelogist and an artist , published in 1802 his sketches of Egyptian monuments and art objects in his Voyage dans la basse et la haute Egypte (Journey in Lower and Upper Egypt). Denon would later become the first director of the Louvre museum. The monumental Description de l'Egypte (Description of Egypt) was a series of volumes published between 1809 and 1829.  It is the extensive compilation of the field reports, sketches and descriptions made by the members of Napoleon's scientific team during the expedition in Egypt.

When the Sphinx of Giza was rediscovered by Napoleon's
troops, it was largely buried up in sand. In 1817 its chest was
uncovered by Giovanni Battista Caviglia. It would take
another 119 years before Émile Baraize would excavate
the sphinx in 1936 completely.

Both works, illustrated with great engravings of the country and its ancient buildings and art objects, were a succes. The public was enthusiastic. In the next 100 years, each next major archaeological discovery or public event further stoke up the Egyptomania:

• 1822 Champollion deciphered the Rosetta Stone hieroglyphs 23 years after its discovery by Napoleon troops
• 1836 Louis Philippe placed the Ramses II obelisk from the Luxor temple, a gift from Muhammad Ali of Egypt, in the center of Place de la Concorde
• 1869 The Suez Canal, "the Highway to India", was opened.
• 1878 Erection of the Tuthmosis III obelisk in London
• 1881 Another Tuthmosis III obelisk was set up in New York
• 1922 Howard Carter  discovered Tutankhamun's tomb

25 Shares of 1 Pounds Sterling, 1908, London
The New Egyptian Company

Egyptian Revival movement

Not only the public was enthusiast. Also artists and architects, fascinated by the descriptions and numerous engravings in the publications mentioned above found inspiration in Egyptian motives and imagery for their creations. Although most of them would never see a sphinx or a pyramid in their life.

View on the pyramids, seen from Cairo

Architectural examples :

• Egyptian Bridge, St.-Petersburg
• Fountain of the Fellah, Paris
• Highgate Cemetery, London
• Washington Monument (an obelisk)
• Egyptian Court at the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition in London
• Egyptian temple in the Antwerp Zoo
• amongst many more also several Masonic temple buildings

Examples in painting :

• L’Expédition d’Egypte sous les ordres de Bonaparte (The Egyptian Expedition Under the Command of Bonaparte), Léon Cogniet
• Bonaparte devant le Sphinx (Bonaparte before the Sphinx), Jean-Léon Géröme, see above
• Joseph éxpliquant les rêves du Pharaon (Joseph explains the dreams of the pharao), Adrien Guignet
• Israel in Egypt, Edward Poynter
• The Finding of Moses, Lawrence Alma-Tadema

1 Ordinary Share of 250 Francs, 1906, Cairo
The Cairo Electric Railway and Heliopolis Oases Company
Printed by Bradbury Wilkinson

In the 19th century expensive furniture, clocks, lamps, dinnerware and jewelry designed with lotus flowers, scarabs and sphinxes quickly found buyers. Egypt became popular in literature, in opera, in the theater and at the movies. These days Egyptomania is collective and masses of kitchy objects can be spotted on almost every flee market : a pharao figurine, a sphinx bookend, a used pyramid board game.

Egyptomania in scripophily

As you can see in this post, many Egyptian stock and bond certificates issued by Egyptian, French or English companies. These stunning papers are often printed by Arnaud, Chaix, Bradbury Wilkinson, Waterlow, Ventura, Della Rocca and Publications Egyptiennes. Their designs make you easily start dreaming and muzing. Unexplainable. And that's the secret of Egyptomania: it permits anyone to find affinity with another world of ideals. 

Shares of $1, Colorado Springs, 1901
The Prin-Seti Gold Mining Company
Sold at Boone Auction 47, Oct 2011, for 1200 Euro

Therefore it is no surprise, that Egyptomania found also its way in American culture and scripophily as well. Some American shares and bonds are very explicitly designed with pharaonic elements. A nice example is the share certificate of the Prin-Seti Gold Mining Company.  On other certificates, the presence of ancient Egypt is more subtle, as can be seen on the details on some American railroad stocks and bonds.

Sphinxes on US railroad certificates
from left to right :
Rio Grande Junction Railway Co., see Cox RIO-357-S-50
Indiana and Lake Michigan Railway Co., see Cox IND-337-S-30
Duluth Huron and Denver Railroad Co., see Cox DUL-103-B-50

Do I suffer from Egyptomania ?

Ok, ok, ok, ok. Yes, I admit it. But just a little. Really not much. Occasionally. Not continuously, if you know what I mean.  As an 8-years old kid I read comic books like Spike and Suzy (Dutch: Suske en Wiske), The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix. Together with my heroes in these stories I experienced many wonderful adventures in Egypt. (Sigh) I wonder if I will ever make it to Egypt.

  

I wrap up this posting with some final words about mummies:

What did the baby pyramid say to the other pyramid?
How's your mummy?

F.L.

References

• Wikipedia's Obelisks in Rome
• In search of forgotten Egypte (Dutch : Op zoek naar het vergeten Egypte) , Jean Vercoutter, ISBN 90 02 18033 0
• From Delacroix to Kandinsky - Oriëntalism in Europe, Editions Hazan - Koninklijke Musea voor Schone Kunsten van België, ISBN 978 2 7541 0520 0
• Wikipedia's Revival Art

Related links

• Travels in upper and lower Egypt, Vivant Denon, 1803, part I of the translation by Arthur Aikin
• Travels in upper and lower Egypt, Vivant Denon, 1803, part II of the translation by Arthur Aikin 
• Description of Egypt, digital presentation of all volumes of the second edition by World Digital Library
• Egyptology : the missing millenium : ancient Egypt in mediaval Arabic writings, by Okasha El-Daly