The Case of the Missing Farmers – Egyptologist traces back Crédit Agricole d’Égypte vignettes

The share of the Crédit Agricole d’Égypte is one of the most decorative securities from Egypt. It is adorned with oriental and pharaonic elements. In the underprint you recognize lotus flowers, a temple and the harbour of Alexandria. The lower border shows a pharaoh with two agricultural drawings showing what seems like ancient Egyptian texts. 

It turns out that the certificate’s design has a connection with a lost temple from ancient times and with Germany’s Berlin from the 1850s as well. 

Crédit Agricole d'Égypte

5 shares of 4 Egyptian pounds, issued in Cairo, 1934 

click image to enlarge  

The Crédit Agricole d'Égypte (CAE) was established in 1931 with registered office in Cairo. Half of the capital of 1 million Egyptian pounds was subscribed by the government. The bank applied low interest rates to small cultivators and agricultural cooperative societies. By 1940 the bank ran over 100 branches all over Egypt. CAE changed its name in 1948 to the Agricultural and Cooperative Credit Bank. The bilingual 5-shares bearer certificate shown here, was issued in 1934.

We know of several bonds and shares that are illustrated with hieroglyphic-like texts and pharaonic elements. Scripophily from Egypt is therefore one of my favorite themes.  

On top of the CAE certificate we see the goddess Nekhbet, depicted as a vulture. She protects the symbol of the Kingdom of Egypt (1922-1953): three stars and a crescent moon. 

Some certificates have genuine Ancient Egyptian words in their design. A Belgian Egyptologist helped me to translate these texts on a number of certificates. You can read more about that in my blog article Hieroglyphs in scripophily deciphered!, Aug, 2018, and as well as in Scripophily magazine, No.111, Dec 2019. 

However, the texts on the CAE share seemed incomplete and were drawn too crudely. They could not be translated correctly. And there ended the story for that certificate … at least I thought so. 

'5 shares' in Arabic 

Four years went by and then I got an email from Sandra Ottens in Sep, 2023. What a surprise when she wrote me that she had solved the puzzle of this CAE share. 

Ottens obtained a MA at University Leiden with a speciality in Egyptology.  She wrote that she had read in 2019 about ‘scripophily’ on the Facebook page of the Leuven-based ‘Pyramids & Progress’ project (1). The post referred my blog article from 2018. 

(1) The Pyramids & Progress project was a research project on Belgian expansionism and the making of Egyptology. See here  

Intrigued by the unidentified texts on the CAE share, Ottens started researching the images because these looked familiar to her. During her study of ancient tombs with the Leiden Mastaba Study Group she had seen a lot of similar texts and images. She consulted several sources but without any results and eventually put that puzzle aside for several years.

Last summer Ottens resumed her research on the CAE certificate. On her own blog Egyptoblogie, see here, you can read about the many steps she undertook. She found the solution in a book from Karl Richard Lepsius.

Lepsius was an Egyptologist from the 19th century. In 1842, he was commissioned by King Frederich Wilhelm IV of Prussia to lead an archeological expedition to Egypt and the Sudan. With his team he documented as much as possible the ancient places. After his return Lepsius became professor of Egyptology at Berlin University in 1846. 

Karl Richard Lepsius (1810-1884)

image: Ernst Milster, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons 

Lepsius compiled his 12 volume compendium Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien (Monuments from Egypt and Ethiopia) over a time span of 10 years. These works describe plates of ancient Egyptian inscriptions, monuments, maps, temple drawings, tomb walls and landscapes.

On her quest Sandra Ottens went through Lepsius’ volumes and then came to Volume IV, Section II, page 107. That page contained an image of a tomb relief that referred to ‘Grab 2 in Sauiet el Meitin’. The tomb was located in Zawyet Sultan in Middle Egypt. The tomb owner was identified as Khunes who probably lived during the reign of pharaoh Teti (early 6th dynasty, around 2300 BC). 

Karl Richard Lepsius’ Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien, Volume IV, Section II, page 107, features the scenes from the CAE share certificate. 

On that page Ottens recognized the reaping scene from the lower left border of our certificate. On the original tomb relief it is part of the scene in which several men are harvesting grain with sickles (lowest line of inscriptions at right in the image above). 

She explains: “The much more clearly drawn hieroglyphs can be translated as ‘Harvesting of grain by the servants of the king’ (Azx it in Hmw nswt)”. 

The reaping scene 

And Ottens locates also the ploughing scene on the same relief drawing (upper line of inscriptions at right on the page from Lepsius' book).

She clarifies: “The ploughing scene shows two men driving an ox-drawn plough across a field. The text reads: ‘Revitalising (the land) with a plough’ (skA m hb) and ‘press your hand down’ (wAH a=k) (2). ” 

(2) Sandra Ottens: The ‘=’ is a grammatical addition in the transliteration to link the suffix ‘k’, represented by the small basket, meaning ‘your(s)’, with the ‘a’, meaning ‘hand or arm’, represented by the arm. The sentence is apparently an encouragement for the depicted farmer to press the plough firmly down to make furrows in the ground.

The ploughing scene 

And as if she can read my restless scripophily mind, she adds that the tomb with the scenes does not exist anymore. What a scripophily attraction wouldn't that have been? In 2020 the Zawyet Sultan mission confirmed that the tomb was largely destroyed by limestone quarrying several years after Lepsius visited the place.  

Puzzle solved! What a journey in history. If you think about it, it is amazing how much time jumps were made to tell this story:

• ca 2300 BC: During Teti’s reign, in Zawyet Sultan (Middle Egypt), the tomb of an Egyptian official named Khunes is embellished with relief drawings and texts.
• 1840s: Prussian Egyptologist Lepsius visits the tomb and documents the tomb reliefs.
• 1850s: Lepsius publishes his Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien.
• ca 1930: A so far unknown artist designs the CAE share and gets inspiration most certainly from Lepsius’ Denkmäler aus Aegypten und Aethiopien
• 2019: A blogpost featuring the CAE certificate with ancient Egyptian texts catches the attention of Dutch Egyptologist Sandra Ottens.
• 2023: Ottens solves the puzzle in 2023 by researching the works of Lepsius.

Egyptologist Sandra Ottens 

My sincere thanks to Sandra Ottens for sharing her exciting piece of research. You can read her findings on her original blogpost here:  Sandra Ottens original blogpost The Case of the Missing Farmers .

 

F.L.

I wrote this article for Scripophily magazine No 123-January 2024, a publication by IBSS.

Boone's 69th auction spans now 2 days. Among the stars are Ferdinand de Lesseps Suez Canal certificates and a 16th century loan from Antwerp.

Mario Boone scheduled its next sale of antique stocks and bonds for 5 and 6 November 2022. That's right, the auctioneer applies a new event format which starts in Antwerp with an international bourse on Saturday morning. The live auction kicks off at 2 PM in the same venue. On Sunday, the second part comprises of a internet/mailbid auction. 

Altogether more than 1700 lots will be hammered in Boone's upcoming auction.  This is an opportunity to see many stunning certificates like this one. Noted security printer Charles Crabbé produced this 1902 share from the Paris-based Crédit National Assurances. L(ot) 353 starts at €100.

Latin America is excellently represented. More than 300 lots fill several chapters : Latin America lot range 534-556 , The Carribbean Collection L729-861, Venezuala Collection L862-965. All of these are scheduled on Saturday, and then there is another Latin America chapter, L1518-1580, on Sunday.  

Some of the interesting items are :

• The Cuban Central Railways Ltd £100 debenture from 1899 shows two small vignettes and is rare, L544.
• Lots 806 through 828 includes several Panama Canal certificates.
• L887 shows a frontal view of a steamship on a Orinoco Steamship Company bond printed in 1902 by the International Bank Note Co. from New York.
• The Société de Recherches de Temascaltepec (Mexique) was organized to mine for silver in Temascaltepec. L1569

L548 in the auction is a share in the Syndicat des Placers Guyanais. The company was formed in 1913 to dig for alluvial gold and diamonds. An overseas department of France in South America, French Guiana's currency is the euro. Gold mining, often done illegally, is still one of its main industries today. Bidding starts at €200.

Included in the sale are several certificates signed by or issued to historic figures, such as:

• members from the Rothschild banking family, L402 through 415, 
• Paul Kruger, President of the South African Republic, L296
• L499 shows the signature of Robert Surcouf, the French slave trader and privateer who raided British ships
• A Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij share issued to the Dutch King Willem III, L441.

The auction catalog's Autographs index refers to many more personalities, including Ferdinand de Lesseps !

On March 23, 2021, container ship Ever Given gets stuck in the Suez Canal and disrupted global trade for six days. The consequences were incalculable: industries were impacted with shortages, e.g. of semiconductors. The non delivering of food resulted in price rises and livestock shipments were suspended.

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It was constructed by Ferdinand de Lesseps' Suez Canal company between 1859 and 1869.  

Boone offers a set of printer proof bonds from the company's 1879/80 loan, all different and unique. One of these is corrected by Ferdinand de Lesseps himself, and personally signed by him. His handwritten signature in scripophily is of the highest rarity. The set of certificates deserves a place in any top collection highlighting France, Egypt, Canals & Transport, and even World History. Start price €10,000 .

The 16-18th century chapter counts more than 50 lots of shares, bonds and related financial documents. Among these "prehistorics" are 

• bonds from the Flemish cities Antwerp, Aalst and Oudenaarde (L480, L482, L484)
• a 1759 share in the Compagnie Royale Prussienne de Bengale , L511
• whaling and canal companies, L486 & L514
• 18th & early 19th century French privateer companies, L489 through L499, and an American one, L533
• a collection of 108 French lotteries issued between 1699 and 1828, L501
• a put option certificate of the Bank of England as early as 1730, L516

An amazing discovery is L480, an Antwerp city bond for 100 Carolus Guilders from 1558. Issued on vellum, it has a large Antwerp city seal in red wax showing 'Het Steen', the still existing 13th century castle. The bond was part of a loan granted in 1555 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

At the start of the 16th century Antwerp belonged to the Habsburg Netherlands, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. The city was a major shipping base for Spanish and Portuguese merchants importing sugar and raw produce from overseas. Antwerp became the main business centre around the Atlantic. Its wealthy bankers lended money to governments in Europe.

Between 1555 and 1556, Charles V split his empire into an Austro-German and a Spanish branch. As a result of Charles's abdications, the Habsburg Netherlands were left to his son Philip II of Spain. Thus became Antwerp part of the Spanish Netherlands. 

During these decades war with France was never far away. Also the Catholic Church in the Spanish realm had to be defended against the upcoming Protestant Reformation. The loan was raised to finance the construction and maintenance of the fortifications of Antwerp, the so-called 'Spaanse omwalling' (Spanish ramparts). These were built on order of Charles V from 1542 onwards.

€5000 is the start price for this top item that has witnessed a florishing but turbulent Flemish and Spanish 16th century.

As usual the sale includes a large chapter of USA scripophily, presented in both the Saturday and Sunday sessions of the auction. 

• There is an opportunity to buy a Southern State Bonds Collection as a single lot (L649-L728). When there is no buyer then the collection will be regrouped by state, each one then offered as one group lot. In turn, these, when not sold, will be split into single item lots. 
• US railways are plenty. You can find an interesting review on this chapter on Coxrail News and Announcements, see here     

The National Glass Company from Pittsburgh, Pa., was a short-lived glass trust. It owned several factories in places like Dunkirk, Ind., Cumberland, Md. and Marietta, Oh. They specialized in colored table glassware and decorated lamps. This $1000 bond from 1901, a Western Bank Note print, starts at €50. L1708

It is impossible to address all items in this sale, but there is a way to find out more about them. Here are the auction details :

• Dates
• 5 November 2022, Antwerp Crowne Plaza Hotel
• International Bourse 8h30-12h 
• Live auction 14h-18h30
• 6 November 2022, mailbid and online auction
• Further info : 
• online catalog & bidding, see here 
• or via the Invaluable platform (large images), see there 
• and the PDF version of the catalog can be found here 

Even if you are not a collector 5 November 2022 is an opportunity to see some great antique securities. The venue is the Antwerp Crown Plaza. The public bus stops right outside the place and takes you in 10 minutes to Antwerp Central Station. 

F.L.

PS : Did you like this post ? Thank you for sharing it on you favorite social media channel !

Watermarks in Scripophily - part 2 Paper manufacturers

In Watermarks in Scripophily – part 1 I introduced you into the world of watermarks specifically on bonds and shares. This time we’ll talk about watermarks created by the paper makers themselves, perhaps the most obvious category of watermarks in scripophily. 

The first watermarks appeared in Italy during the 13th century. They were used to identify the papermaker or the trade guild that manufactured the paper. An interesting question is whether watermarks were invented, or just a side effect in the production process?

images 1a and 1b: When viewed against a light source, this Nira Valley Sugar Co share reveals a watermark pattern of bold vertical and faint horizontal lines. This is an example of laid paper. A detail of the pattern is shown here below. Click images to enlarge. The actual company and its share was described and illustrated in part 1 of this series, see here. 

European paper was initially made by dipping a wooden-framed screen, a lattice of metal wires, into a tub of warm water and cellulose fibers, scooping up this pulp, and then letting the water drain out. The cellulose came from cotton linters or recycled cloth (rag), and only much later wood fibers were used too. 

The cellulose fibers subsequently matted into a thin layer against the screen. For hundreds of years these screens had a rectangular design with widely-spaced vertical “chain” wires and closely-spaced horizontal “laid” wires tied on top of the chain wires.

In the process the wires in the screen compress the pulp fibres and reduce their thickness. The resulting patterned portion of the paper is thinner and lets more light through than the surrounding paper. 

The laid wires yield faint lines in the watermark. Chain wires have a greater impact and are responsible for the bolder lines. This type of paper is known as laid paper. A nice example can be seen above in images 1a and 1b.

images 2a and 2b: The Swedish immigrant Willgodt T. Odhner invented the Arithmometer, a pinwheel calculator. Following the Russian revolution, his company moved from St. Petersburg to Göteborg, Sweden. This 1918 share’s watermark reveals a coat of arms of the paper manufacturer Lessebo, a crowned beehive with the date 1719. The words ‘Handgjord Post’ translate as ‘handmade post’. Image courtesy Wilhelm Leiter 

Paper makers found out that they could add special designs to the watermark by sewing wire designs to the screen frame. A paper maker could now incorporate its coat of arms, a logo, or its name into the watermark. The product could now be identified and became difficult to counterfeit. An interesting example is the Original-Odhner share, see images 2a and 2b.

Often paper makers have a remarkable history. The Original-Odhner’s share’s paper manufacturer is Lessebo Paper. The paper mill was originally an iron mill established in the 17th century. In the 1690s the mill started making heavy paper for paper cartridges used for containing a bullet and gunpowder. In 1719 the mill gained permission to manufacture paper, a date that you see in the company’s coat of arms (image 2a). Lessebo Paper still manufactures hand-made paper today.

Over time, the production of watermarks became mechanized. During manufacture paper pulp is passed through rolls with a raised design. The designs applied on the rolls cause density variations in the produced paper. In turn, these density variations make an image or a pattern appear in the paper in the form of various shades of lightness and darkness. We speak of multi-tonal watermarks.

A relevant example can be seen in part 1, see there, namely the Indian Post Office 5-Year Cash Certificate. That paper shows light, dark and even multi-tonal watermarks giving the viewer an impression of depth. Another fine example can be seen on a Olivetti bond, see images 3a and 3b.

Images 3a and 3b: Ing. C. Olivetti & C. was founded in 1908 as a typewriter manufacturer and evolved into computers and smartphones. This certificate, issued 1948, has a watermark pattern, a repeating design that is applied all over the surface of the paper. Watermark patterns can be seen on many Russian railway bonds. In most cases it is not possible to detect whether patterns like these were designed by the paper manufacturer, or by commission of the certificate’s printer or issuer. The pattern on this Olivetti bond consists of diagonally placed geometrical figures. The multi-tonal shade gives you an impression of depth and the pattern appears as a structure of ‘buttons’, looking like bubble wrap plastic, something I usually cannot resist popping! 

In the 1700s James Whatman started a paper making business in Maidstone, Kent. He experimented with the wire screen used in the process. Whatman replaced the lattice of laid and chain wires with a screen of a much finer woven mesh of wires. As a result, the paper was formed on a much more uniform surface and showed no watermark pattern of lines, unless a wire design had been sewn to the screen. This type of handmade paper is called wove paper, and its invention led to what we know as modern paper today.

Whatman was probably the first paper company that added a year to its watermark, see image 4b. You may discover on your certificates watermarks by other paper makers incorporating a year as well. The shares in the United Commercial Bank, Calcutta, issued in the 1960s, show the T H Saunders (or parts of it) name with the year 1946. That company was founded by Thomas Harry Saunders. Famous for its diversity in watermark designs used on stamps, bills of exchange, securities, and the like, Saunders won medals at international exhibitions for his light and shade watermarks that were used to prevent frauds.

Images. 4a and 4b: Established in the 1840s as the Auckland Hotel, Kolkata’s Great Eastern Hotel, today known as the LaLiT Great Eastern, hosted many notable persons like Nikita Khrushchev, Elizabeth II, Dave Brubeck and M K Gandhi. This 1937 share was printed on wove paper. Its watermark shows the WHATMAN name, ‘HAND MADE’ and the year ‘1916’. 

You cannot interpret a year in a watermark as the year of paper production or as a print date. It should be seen as “paper produced not earlier than” because mills did not always update their watermarks.

Besides their name and coat of arms, paper mills sometimes added to the watermark an indication of the paper brand and the paper quality. That made it easy for stationery businesses and printers to look up the right type of paper in their inventory. As an example, I show here an American paper, see images 5a and 5b.

Images 5a and 5b: The Q1 Corporation was a pioneering microcomputer company. In 1972 they delivered the world’s first personal computer based on an 8-bit general purpose microprocessor, the Intel 8008. The share bears the watermark of the Strathmore Paper Co, founded in 1892, West Springfield, Massachusetts. The watermark shows the brand ‘Strathmore Script’ and its quality ‘100% Cotton Fibre’. Cotton fibres are strong yet soft and create a uniform paper surface that is strong and flexible. 100% cotton paper is often used for banknotes. 

In some cases, paper makers add to their watermark the location where the paper was made. Some examples from Indian shares: The Rajnagar Spg. Wvg. & Manufacturing Co Ltd, preference share, 1945, was ‘MADE IN ENGLAND’ and a 100 Rupees share in The Birla Mills Ltd, 1920, reveals ‘MADE IN CANADA’.

More of a surprise is a 100 Rs share from The Gold Mohur Mills Ltd, 1926, Bombay, telling us ‘MADE IN AUSTRIA’. Another example that illustrates the export of quality paper products is shown in images 6a and 6b.

Images 6a and 6b: From Egypt, the shares from the Alexandria Pressing Company that were issued in the 1950s have a watermark showing the name of the Norwegian company ‘BORREGAARD’, the paper type ‘TUB SIZED LEDGER’ and the location of the paper mill ‘MADE IN NORWAY’.

I conclude this part in the series with one of my favorites: a share in The Dahramsi Morarji Chemical Co Ltd, Bombay (DMCC). Its watermark shows the line LUCKY PARCHMENT, a design of a jockey racing a horse, and the words RAG CONTAINING underneath. See images 7a and 7b below.

Parchment paper is not to be confused with “parchment”. The latter is a writing material made from animal skin. The former is a type of cellulose-based paper (made from wood pulp and cotton fibers) which has been treated chemically to make the paper stronger, more heat resistant and above all non-sticky.

You’ll find the words PARCHMENT also in the watermarks of shares from McLeod and Co, Ltd (1940s) and many other scripophily examples. In my example, LUCKY PARCHMENT is a parchment paper brand from the Indian paper company Ballarpur Paper and Straw Board Mills, Ltd.

RAG CONTAINING is another line of text in the DMCC watermark. Rag paper or cotton paper is primarily made of cotton linters or from used cloth (rags). Cotton paper may last many decades without any sign of deterioration, see also images 5a and 5b before.

Images 7a and 7b: This share in The Dahramsi Morarji Chemical Co Ltd was issued in 1968. The company's headquarters were located at Dr Dababhoy Naoroji Road in Mumbai. The certificate shows the coat of arms of the company, including a tiny map of India, and has a watermark of a racing jockey. 

The DMCC’s remarkable jockey watermark seems unrelated but it is not. I learned from scripophily expert Sayeed Cassim (see also here) that the Ballarpur paper company was founded by Karam Chand Thapar, who headed the Thapar Group of companies. The Thapar family was involved in race horse ownership, hence the jockey.

Time for a quick review. The first watermarks were formed, likely unexpectedly, in the production process of what we now call laid paper. Paper makers then added a logo, their coat of arms, or their name to the watermark design. Some of them further added a year, a paper type or brand, and also a location where the paper was made. If you haven’t done so already, you might start viewing your certificates against a window.

In part 3, I’ll show that paper manufacturers start adding watermark elements on behalf of one of their important customer segments: security printers.

F.L. 

This article was initially published in Scripophily magazine No. 114, December 2020. 

You might be interested to read : Watermarks in Scripophily - part 1 Introduction 

Previous posts

• Wurlitzer Good Will Bond 
• Book : Price list of Polish and Polish related securities 

Historic figures and Rumanians star in Boone's next auction of antique securities

Boone's 61th Auction of shares and bonds features more than 1600 lots covering about all fields of scripophily interest. The sale catalogue is available online and as an offline PDF document. Nearly all of its 200 pages include color images and background stories of the certificates to be sold. 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. 

I noted several certificates signed by or issued to historic figures in the Autographs index. Here are some dazzling names. The Great Britain section begins with a royal series of financial documents : King Charles I, 1632, L(ot) 521, Queen Anne, 1713, L523, King George I, 1723, L524, King George II, 1745, L525 and King George III, 1790, L526. All, unique, representing the Early Modern Britain period, welcome bids from €2000.

Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez 

Dividend share, 1884, Paris, signed as Director by (Ferdinand) V(icomte ) de Lesseps 
Hercule Catenacci designed the share with pharaonic motifs and Egyptian street views. 

click image to enlarge 

Few personalities have made such an impact on global trade as Ferdinand de Lesseps. Right at the outset of the Second Industrial Revolution, de Lesseps' Suez Canal opened in 1869. Combined with the American transcontinental railroad, it allowed the world to be circled in record time. L182, a dividend share in the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, 1884, is the only known scripophily with an original autograph de Lesseps. Start price €2000. 

From 1839, a share in the Moulins à Vapeur de Sclessin, a steam-powered grain mill, L218, is issued to industrialist John Cockerill from Lancashire. Cockerill is considered the founder of the Belgian manufacturing industry. Surprisingly, bidding on this extremely rare and one of the most important Belgian scripophily objects can start as low as €800. 

Of course, the Americans are also part of the show. Bidding can start at €500 for an Oroya Leonesa Ltd gold mine share, L1133, signed by Herbert C. Hoover, 31st President of the US. You can find John Paul Getty and George F. Getty II on a duo lot, L1275, comprising a Mission Development stock and a pay roll check. A Northern Pacific Railroad Company share, L1195, signed on the back transfer note by John Pierpont Morgan may be acquired from €100.

Another stunning signature certificate from the Neamul Romanesc Societate Cooperativa, a company formed for the commerce and industry of printing, packaging and publishing. The company printed its own shares. This one, dated 1908, is signed by historian, playwright and Prime Minister of Rumania (1931-32) Nicolae Iorga. A commando of the fascist Iron Guard party assassinated "the greatest-ever mind in Rumania" in 1940. Lot 1591 in the auction. 

The Nicolae Iorga share, L1591, is one of an exciting group of about 360 rare, historic and superbly designed bonds and shares from Rumania. In pole position here is a bond of 100 Austrian Ducats issued by the Principality of Wallachia in 1834. Twenty-five years later, Wallachia would form together with Moldavia the State of Romania in 1859. The certificate, L1281, can find a new owner from €1400.

The Banca "Oborul" is named after the Obor district in Bucharest. Its 50 Lei  share, Art Nouveau style, starts at €200. L1403  

Art Nouveau became also in Rumania a popular style around the 1900s. Decorative elements, inspired by natural forms and the curved lines of plants, found its way on many gorgious security designs like those of the Creditul International, L1410, Banca Grivita, L1406 and Bukowinaer Landesbank, L1390.

This share in the Allgemeine Versicherungsbank Transsylvania A.G. was issued on Jun 21, 1918, only a few months before Transylvania, also known as Siebenbürgen, became a part of Rumania Dec 1, 1918. Illustrated are the arms of the seven provinces of Transylvania. L1420, €100 

The Rumanian sales section consists of the following subsections, between parentheses the number of lots is mentioned to illustrate the extraordinary range of scripophily : State & City Bonds (36), Railroads (27), Oil (23), Banking (138), Various Industries (135).

Soviet related scripophily can often be fascinating. At the end of WW II, the country was occupied by Soviet troops. In Feb 1946, the Uzinelle Metallurgice "Vulcan" issued new shares. In the same year the Communists organized and "won" the elections in Rumania. The company recovered from the war and already at the end of the decade production increased quickly. L1639 contains a duo of these 1946 issued "Soviet" shares and starts at €60.

The Romania Carbonifera certificate for 10 shares of 500 Lei was issued in 1920. Click the image to enlarge and admire the drawing of coalminers at work. L1556, €100 

On top of what has been discussed so far, another 1200 scripophily lots, 1639 in total, will be part of the sale. A few of the many worth looking at :

• L118 Kathiawar Industries, India
• L132 Manufactures Indochinoises de Cigarettes, Indochina
• L150 Nanyo Yashi KK, Southern Coco-Nut Estate & Trading Co, Japan
• L240 Expedition Antarctique Belge, Belgium
• L472 Baden-Baden Co Ltd, Germany
• L580 Agricultural and Commercial Bank of Ireland
• L793 First Society of Silkworm Breeders in Kutaisi Government, Russia
• L861 Stora Kopparbergs Läns Och Bergslags Enskilde Bank-Bolag, Sweden
• L902 Ottoman National Economic Joint Stock Company of Konya, Turkey
• L1075 Cardenas Sabanilla Petroleum, Cuba

One of the French top pieces in the sale, this 100 Francs share in the Société de Constructions de Levallois-Perret, a successor to the Compagnie des Etablissements Eiffel, was issued in 1939 but printed in the 1890s. Only a handful known, this historic piece may be acquired from €1200. L456 in the auction. 

There is lots more to discover from other countries and all kinds of collecting themes in this auction. The day after the sale, Mario Boone organizes his regular scripophily bourse internationally attended by dealers and visitors.

Auction details

• Location : Antwerpen, Belgium
• Date : auction 27 October 2018, bourse 28 October 2018
• Further info : online catalogue  here, and PDF version there 

F.L.

PS : You can find out more about the Americal railroads in the auction in this preview from Coxrail

Hieroglyphs in scripophily deciphered !

Antique securities from companies that operated in Egypt were typically illustrated with pharaonic themes and hieroglyphs. Standing on their own as true pieces of artwork, their mysterious designs made possible investors dream of promising outcomes. People bought these share certificates in the 19th and 20th century when the stock exchanges of Alexandria and Cairo flourished. But are the hieroglyphs on these certificates actually legible? 

Crédit Agricole d'Egypte 
1 Share of 4 Egyptian Pounds, 1951 

Are the hieroglyphs in the lower border genuine? 
Click image to enlarge 

In August 2016, the Belgian radio program #weetikveel (English: I Don't Know) featured an Egyptologist in a broadcast about the pharaohs of Egypt. I had been puzzled for quite a while by the hieroglyphs that were printed on Egyptian shares. I introduced myself by email to the guest speaker, researcher Marleen De Meyer, and she was amused by the pictures of these antique securities I had sent her. She agreed to have a look at them to see whether the texts were actually legible. 

Gibberish!, she said when I showed her this stunning share in the Crédit Agricole d'Egypte. De Meyer works as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Archaeology with a specialty in Egyptology at KU Leuven University. She is an experienced Egyptologist and can read and understand ancient Egyptian texts. 

The earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions are over 5000 years old. The knowledge of reading them was completely lost some 1500 years ago. The world had to wait until the time of Napoleon to regain that expertise. Under the pretext of protecting the French interests in Egypt, he sent his Armée d'Orient on expedition to Egypt in 1798. Pierre-François Bouchard, one of Napoleon's officers, found in 1799 near Rosetta, a city in the Nile Delta, a stone slab bearing inscriptions in three different scripts. The stone would lead to a breakthrough in deciphering hieroglyphics.

Fayoum Light Railways Company Société Anonyme 

4% £20 Sterling Bearer Bond, Cairo, 1899, printed by Charles Skipper & East

The symbols printed in the bond's upper and lower border look like hieroglyphs.

Also the hieroglyphs on the Fayoum Light Railways bond are total nonsense. But a share from the Electric Light and Power Supply Company was more interesting. Marleen De Meyer explains :

• The inscriptions on the pylon, the temple gateway, are (also) nonsense. 
• The inscriptions below both sphinxes are legible hieroghlyphs. They are derived from the titulature of Ramses II, though not without faults.

I am pleased. Finally, we're getting somewhere !

Electric Light and Power Supply Co. Société Anonyme

dividend share, Cairo, issued 1933

The inscriptions below both sphinxes are legible hieroghlyphs

but those on the pylon, the temple gateway, are not.

When Pierre-François Bouchard found the Rosetta Stone there was nobody who could translate the stone's inscriptions. The same text was written in three languages : Greek, Demotic, and Ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs). At this time, no one had been able to decipher the latter two scripts, but Greek was of course known. Bouchard told his superiors and his commanding officer Nicolas-Jacques Conté, that he had found something of importance. Before they joined Napoleon's army in Egypt, Bouchard and Conté were already friends. Both had lost an eye during one of Conté's experiments with hydrogen gas.

The Rosetta Stone, measuring 112cm high, 75cm wide, 28cm thick, and weighing about 760 kilograms, was brought to Cairo. Napoleon's expedition in Egypt included many scientists who described and drew ancient monuments and antiquities. Eager to inform their colleagues in France, they tried to copy the Rosetta Stone’s texts by hand.

That proved to be an error-prone process. Nicolas-Jacques Conté suggested to use the Rosetta Stone itself as a printing block to reproduce the inscription. They applied ink to the surface, including the incisions, and then cleaned off the ink from the raised surface. The resulting print, in reverse text, could be read from the back side, or in a mirror. Copies of the stone's texts reached Paris in 1801.

Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez 

specimen dividend share, 1924

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It was constructed by Ferdinand de Lesseps' Suez Canal company between 1859 and 1869. The drawing of the share is made by James Pouchet, an engineer working for de Lesseps. Pouchet designed several buildings along the Suez Canal, including the Viceroy Palace at Ismailia. (L'Illustration: Journal Universel, 16 Oct 1869)
image courtesy : Mario Boone 

For many years now, Marleen De Meyer has been researching the field of funerary culture from Egypt's Old and Middle Kingdom. Since 2002 she is a permanent team member of the Dayr al-Barsha Project directed by the Egyptology research group at KU Leuven. Dayr al-Barsha is located in Middle Egypt, where in 2014, De Meyer discovered in the area of the Old Kingdom rock tombs (2300-2200 BC), an extraordinary and well preserved plaster funerary mask.

A five hour drive from Dayr al-Barsha takes you to Suez, which brings us to the next item to discuss. Marleen could easily identify the meaning of the symbols on the Suez Canal share because these are genuine hieroglyphs. James Pouchet, a Suez Canal engineer who made the drawing for the Suez Canal share, had accurately copied the writings. Marleen clarifies :

• The one on the left says : "Lord of The Two Lands, Cleopatra", dating to the Ptolemaic Period 
• The column on the right reads : "King of Upper and Lower Egypt, Lord of The Two Lands, Necho II", 26th Dynasty (610-595 BCE)

Details from the Suez Canal share, see above. 

The inscriptions have been identified by Egyptologist De Meyer. 

The hieroglyphs refer to Cleopatra and Necho II.

Earlier I told you that paper copies of the Rosetta stone's inscriptions arrived in Paris in 1801. All this time, the French army was frequently under attack from British and Ottoman troops. In August 1801, the French general Menou had to surrender. Together with Arabian manuscripts, ancient statues and other antiquities collected by the French, the Stone of Rosetta came into British possession. It was transported to London where it became a top attraction in the British Museum ever since.

Société Belge-Egyptienne de l'Ezbékieh  

500 Francs bond, Brussels, 1905 

Founded in 1899 with Belgian capital, the company was a real estate developer in and around Cairo. 
Hieroglyphs can be found on this certificate along all borders of the design.

Click image to enlarge 

A bond from 1905 issued by the Société Belge-Egyptiènne de l'Ezbékieh counts no less than 14 hieroglyphic inscriptions. This was "le plat principal" for Marleen De Meyer. In clockwise order and starting at the top, she identifies the names of several Egyptian rulers written in cartouches:

 1. Arsinoe II (Ptolemaic Period)

 2. Amenirdis I or II (25th Dyn.)

 3. Snefru (4th Dyn.) with an error

 4. not a legible name

 5. The designer was likely inspired by the titulature of Seti I  (19th Dyn.), but the writing shows several errors.

 6. Ramses II (19th Dyn.)

 7. Merneptah (19th Dyn.)

 8. Ramses II (19th Dyn.)

 9. Ptolemaios II Philadelphos (Ptolemaic Period)

10. Horemheb (18th Dyn.)

11. [mAa-xrw] “true of voice", the name of a pharaoh is missing

12. Amenemhat (12th Dyn.), with an error

13. Probably based on the titulature of Takelot (22nd Dyn.), but the writing has several errors.

14. Seti I (19th Dyn.)

To locate the hieroglyphs more easily on the certificate, I prepared a somewhat compressed version of the certificate's border.

Société Belge-Egyptiènne de l'Ezbékieh 

layout of the fourteen hieroglyphic inscriptions 

By the beard of the pharaoh, what an amazing find! Unfortunately, I have no idea which illustrator has so thoroughly copied these royal names into this work, as there is no author mentioned on the certificate. If you want more information, you can check the standard work of Jürgen von Beckerath: Handbuch der Ägyptischen Königsnamen, 1999. 

So far in my story of the Rosetta Stone, you learned that France lost the Rosetta Stone in Egypt to the British in 1801. However another race was on : who would be the first to decipher hieroglyphs? The British brought the stone to England aboard the captured French frigate HMS Egyptienne. The ship arrived in Portsmouth in February 1802. But the French had already sent from Egypt several printed copies of the stone's inscriptions to scholars in France the year before.

The deciphering of hieroglyphs did not came as a single achievement from one person. Several scientists have made their contribution. The two most important ones are Thomas Young (1773–1829) from Great Britain and the Frenchman Jean-François Champollion (1790–1832) and, like the political climate between their countries, both were each other's rival.

It was Champollion who was the first to understand that hieroglyphs were a combination of phonograms (such as letters in alphabet), logograms (similar to Chinese characters) and ideograms (symbols representing a concept). He also realized that the hieroglyphic text on the Rosetta Stone was translated from Greek, not the other way around. In 1822 Champollion presented the way in which he had cracked the code.

The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum 

The three fragments of writing on it say the same thing in three different languages : 

Demotic, Ancient Greek  and Ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs).

The text is a royal decree from the Hellenistic Period about the taxes of temple priests.

image : Olaf Herrmann [Copyrighted free use], from Wikimedia Commons

During the last two hundred years, illustrators of bond and share certificates successfully used design elements like pyramids, sfinxes, and both pseudo-hieroglyphs and genuine hieroglyphs to attract potential investors.

There is still one question that remains unsolved in Egyptian scripophily. Has anyone of you seen a share certificate bearing a vignette of the Rosetta Stone ? The stone's discovery triggered a tremendous amount of interest all over the world for many decades. I have no doubt that a share certificate like that exists, and it is just waiting to be discovered by collectors like you.

F.L.

I want to express my gratitude to Marleen De Meyer, KU Leuven, for helping me voluntarily to solve these Egyptian puzzles in scripophily. What a great job !

Related links

• KU Leuven - Egyptologie (FB)
• Egyptologica Vlaanderen 
• Book titles for author Marleen De Meyer at Peeters Publishers
• Press article with video interview featuring Marleen De Meyer 
• Wikipedia's Rosetta Stone 
• Bouchard, Conté and the Rosetta Stone, Napoléon and the Scientific Expedition To Egypt, Linda Hall Library exhibit, Kansas City
• More scripophily with hieroglyphs 

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Antwerp puts treasures from Egypt on the block

The 60th auction of Mario Boone takes place on 14 April with an exceptional large range of high quality collectibles from all over the world. The sale offers about 8,900 antique stocks and bonds spread over 1,939 various sized lots. The items to be sold represent nearly 100 countries and span 800 years of financial history (13th -21th century). 

Before getting into more details on the numerous rarities and remarkable certificates, I have to talk first about the unprecedented, top-notch scripophily from Egypt that is at stake in this auction. Boone's sale includes 1,171 bond and shares certificate from Egyptian companies and governments. Collectors and investors interested in such an unparalleled variety of Egyptian scripophily have several auction sections to look into.

Chemin de Fer Keneh-Assouan 

3.5% bond of £20, Cairo, 1925 

part of the "Pharaonic Collection" lot 1877

click image to enlarge

The regular Egypt section, lots 248 through 261, contains a Canal Maritime de Suez, starting at a modest €200, and a Ciments d'Egypte Massarah (Caire) share, €500, equally rare and stunning. 

Another series of Egyptian rarities can be found in the Simar Empain collection which also comes under the hammer. For many decades the late Jacques Simar built up a scripophily collection related to Baron Edouard Empain. Simar published a book on the subject, see here. Edouard Empain, Belgian captain of industry, is known for building the Paris Métro and the district of Heliopolis in Cairo. You can find the Empain Egypt items in lot range 549-576 which includes several sought-after certificates like specimen bonds from the Tramways du Caire, from €200, and the Heliopolis Palace Hotel du Caire, starting at €100.

The sale of Egyptian scripophily peaks with the most complete collection ever brought together. The "Pharaonic" collection includes 1,096 bonds and shares representing Egypt's financial history from the 19th and 20th century. Included are numerous interesting, decorative and historic securities, to name a few : Soufrière d'Égypte, Egyptian Guaranteed 3% Loan, Canal Maritime de Suez, City of Alexandria, Bank of Abyssinia, Banque Egyptienne de Commerce, Marconi Radio Telegraph Co of Egypt, Kodak (Egypt), Investment Bank of Egypt, Nationalization-Loan of the United Arabic Republic and many more. The collection is offered as one lot (1877) and may be acquired from €79,000.

Another, much smaller collection, to be sold in a single lot consists of 134 classic Egyptian certificates. Bids for this lot (1892) are invited from €1,400.

Apart from all those pyramids, sphinxes, scarabs, cobras and hieroglyphs, the sale offers more than 7,500 bonds and shares from other countries as well. And as is the case with Egypt, countries are presented either by their own regular section, as a part of the Simar Empain collection, or may be found as a collection or group lot. Let me discuss some of the highlights.

Banque Hypothécaire Franco-Egyptienne 

F500 shares, Paris, 1910 

 part of the "Pharaonic Collection" lot 1877

As you can expect from a Boone auction, the Belgian section is substantial (lot range 328-456) and opens with a medieval loan on vellum from 1469. Written in Latin, the document, lot 328, is one of the oldest financial documents related to the region of Kortrijk and is expected to fetch at least €2,000. A rare and decorative highlight will certainly interest collectors of zoo scripophily. The share in Société d'Histoire Naturelle à Gand, dated 1852, illustrated with vignettes of a lion, tiger, ostrich, peacocks, crocodiles and many more animals, can be obtained from €2,000.

More remarkable Belgium scripophily can be found in the Empain collection, lot range 457-511. Here, Banque Industrielle Belge (Ancienne Banque E.-L.-J. Empain) is historical to Belgium's financial history. The bank was Edouard Empain's major investment vehicle. The number 1 certificate offered in the sale, represents 76% of all shares, is issued to Empain and starts at €500.

In the Austro-Hungarian Empire section, an extremely rare Thiergarten-Gesellschaft in Wien from 1862 can be fetched from €800. The Grandhotel Pupp, a location for movies Last Holiday (Queen Latifah) and Casino Royale (James Bond Daniel Craig), can be acquired from €50. Hey, movie locations, wouldn't that be an interesting theme to collect.

Denmark scripophily is not often seen. The sale includes 11 certificates (lots 692-702) including a Kjobenhavns Sommer-Tivoli share from 1918. The Tivoli amusement park opened its doors in 1843. Start price €500.

Thé Tôt-Lam 

F100 share, 1912, Indochina

lot 134 in the auction, start price €600

The Compagnie Royale de l'Assiente, one of the earliest French companies, was active in slave trading. Only one other share is known, bids are welcome from €10,000 (lot 709) for its 3000 Livres share, issued 1704. France has left us so many decorative bond and share certificates and this occasion is not an exception to that. Great work of art can be admired on a share from the L'Union des Mines, start price €60. Further, you should check out how Bacchus is having the time of his life on Cave des Affaires, €200.

Probably the most fascinating, lot 1433, is a Spanish financial loan document from the year 1279! Latin script on parchment, this notary act of a bank deposit of 500 solds to a Catalonian banker is the earliest known privately owned banking document.  €15,000 start price.

Viet Nam Ngan Hang - Banque du Vietnam

first bank in Vietnam founded and managed by Vietnamese 

share of 15.000$, Saigon, 1973

lot 177 in the auction, start price €1,400

Some highlights from the big scripophily countries China, Russia, USA and Germany :

• A $1000 Republic of China 6% Secured Gold Loan Treasure Note from 1919, with pagoda vignette, should have been redeemed by a 1937 bond issue. A rarity like this starts at €1,000.  
• The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was a short-lived city state from 1920 to 1925 located in today's Uzbekistan. The sale includes a rare, Bukharan bond from 1923 and can be obtained from  €200.
• In the US section, you can't miss a Proprietors of the New Theatre share. Issued 1791, with a huge vignette of the Philadelphia theatre to be constructed, this is the oldest theatre scripophily seen yet. Bids are invited from €5,000. You can find out more about the American railway section here on the Coxrail blog.
• The German section starts with two bonds, dated 1808, from Napoleon's Kingdom of Westphalia. Bids can start at €400 and €300.

There is lots more to discover from other countries and all kinds of collecting themes in this sale. Dig through the auction catalogue, 263 pages, and/or use the indexes on countries, themes, Belgian provinces, autographs, artists & engravers and printer companies to find your treasures.

The day after the sale, Mario Boone organizes his regular scripophily bourse internationally attended by dealers and visitors.

Auction details

• Location : Antwerpen, Belgium
• Date : auction 14 April 2018, bourse 15 April 2018
• Further info : online catalogue  here, and PDF version there 
• The "Pharaonic Collection" can be viewed in detail here 

F.L.