Spink's summer scripophily sale brings us to New Zealand, Mexico and beyond

Precisely 496 lots of scripophily will go on Spink's E-block. At stake are antique stocks and bonds from all continents. Large sections are reserved for scripophily from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, Latin America and the USA. This online sale already took off at 17:00 June 16. The bidding window closes on Jul 5 at 11:00. 

This is L(ot) 182 from the European section. The Société Française de Phonographes "La Fauvette" was incorporated in 1900 in Paris. The company's major product was "La Sirène", an early cylinder gramophone player that could play "Ideal" (large format) cylinders with a duration of up to 12 minutes.  La Sirène is depicted on this 1902 share, together with a fauvette (warbler bird). 

Spink's upcoming sale features many bonds and shares from Australia, New Zealand, and even one from the British Solomon Islands. A few examples : 

• L5 is 5 shares certificate in The Railway Construction and General Development Company (Tasmania) from 1901. 
• The Butcher's Reef North Gold Mining Company, Bear Hill, New South Wales, shares, 1889, bold red, purple and gold printing, L11
• The share from the South Australian Oil Wells Co shows a large vignette of an oil field. The company operated in Gippsland, Victoria, and reported test drills in the 1940s at a depth of over 4,000 feet. L29

New Zealand is represented by more than 40 lots, several from gold mining companies. L76, a share from The Maoriland Gold Mines Ltd, was issued in 1896. 

The British chapter consists of several sections: railways, canals and shipping, government, banking and insurance, bridges, commercial, industrial, mining, automobiles and cycling, newspaper and publishing. Let's mention some entries:

• Railway enthusiasts will love the 1875 issued share in The Gorsedda Junction and Portmadoc Railways Company, Wales. Rare, L228 depicts a double-ended steam locomotive, a "double Fairlie".  
• L290 contains lots of history: a share in The London Clinic and Nursing Home Ltd from 1929. The London Clinic is one of the UK's best private hospitals and has treated many famous names such as Charlie Chaplin. It was here that Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet was arrested in 1998. 
• L264 consists of a group of three shares in the Associated Newspapers Ltd. Today known as DMG Media. This media holding publishes the Daily Mail, Metro, New Scientist, the Irish Daily Mail and many more. 

The Normal Powder and Ammunition Company Ltd, ordinary shares, 1898, company logo with rifles and canon repeated in the embossed seal, L292, click image to enlarge 

The USA chapter is split into 5 sections: automobiles and aviation, commercial and industrial, government, mining and railways. Here are some of the interesting lots noted :

• The Duquesne Incline Plane Co., Pittsburgh, PA, incorporated in 1876 with a capital of $40,000 consisting of 800 shares of $50. This certificate, from 1877, was issued for 20 shares. The company built a funicular on Mount Washington that ran at a grade of up to 30.5 degrees. L480 
• Several $1000 6% Territory of Florida bonds from 1838, several vignettes, are offered. L360 through L368.
• L440 is a $5 Class B stock certificate in The North Carolina Gold Mining and Reduction Company, Philadelphia 1882, uncommon vignet of miners at work and railway bridge.

A section of 60 lots includes scripophily from Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Cuba, Honduras and many more Latin American countries. Several Mexican railway certificates will pass in review, including this Ferrocarriles de Toluca á Tenango y San Juan, 1907. It is part of a trio, each one printed with a distinct denomination and in different colours, but all with the same great locomotive vignette. L331 

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

• Location : this is an Internet only sale
• Date : Jun 16 17:00 - Jul 5 11:00, 2022
• Further info : see here 

F.L.

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Pioneering communication technology and lots more ready for take off at Spink

SPINK's latest timed scripophily auction went live earlier this week and ends at 11 AM GMT on Feb 16, 2021. This online sale presents about 600 lots of antique bonds and shares from all continents.

SPINK's e-Auction includes a large American section. The Utah Lithographing Co. S. L. C produced this stunning print for the Fairview Southend Mining Co. We've seen other lovely scripophily works by this printer, such as those made for the Salt Lake and Ogden Railway Co., depicting a tramcar and a mountain and lake landscape, and for the Dromedary Hump Mines Company illustrated with a dromedary. This 1906 issued share certificate shows a native American at nightfall watching the first star that appears behind the mountain tops. L(ot)534

For this sale SPINK specialist Mike Veissid selected a remarkable number of antique bonds ands shares from companies pioneering in the field of communication technology. Marconi needs no introduction, L292 is a share from Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company Ltd. Edison is represented with a £100 share in The Edison Telephone Company of Glasgow, 1880, L281. 

Here are some other fascinating items :

• Most of us still remember the fax machine. L290 Kamm's Zerograph Syndicate (1905), Limited, issued in 1906, is signed by Leo Kamm who invented a filmless movie projector but also a telegraph transmitting text that was printed at the receiving end. 
• Two 1911 shares in The National Telewriter Company, Limited comprise lot 296.
• Military commander and aviation pioneer Baden Baden-Powell signed L286, The Helsby Wireless Telegraph Company, 1910. 
• A share in The Kilduchevsky Mega Telephone Syndicate, Limited, L291, is signed by another aviation pioneer, Paul de Kilduchevsky.

The German Josef H. Reineke invented this wireless telephone system for use in mining environments. A demonstration of Reineke's system was given in 1913 at the Annandale Pit, Kilmarnock, belonging to the Carrington and Auchlochan Coal Co. It was stated that with a portable apparatus in case of an accident, when ordinary telephone wires would be broken, it would be possible to converse with entombed miners. Officials of Dinnington Main Colliery, Yorkshire, where the system was tested for six months, often spoke from the pit-head or the pit-bottom to an operator in the cage while in motion. They also communicated with success through a mile of solid coal. L299 in the auction.

source: The Electrical Review, Vol. 73 No. 1869, Sep 19, 1913.

Also prominent in the sale is a series of securities related to arms, explosives and weapons : 

• Probably the most splendid scripophily in this theme is a share in The Colt Gun and Carriage Company, Limited. Issued in 1906 it is embellished with vignettes of soldiers and machine guns, L306. 
• L312 is a share in John Rigby & Co. (Gunmakers), Limited. Rigby, one of the oldest gunmaking companies in the world became famous in the 18th century for its dueling pistols. 
• Hiram Percy Maxim is credited with inventing the firearm silencer. L311 is a Maxim Silencer Company, Limited share from 1909 with embossed seal depicting guns.

The Rexer Arms Company acquired the rights to manufacture the Danish Madsen machine gun in the British Empire. After a legal battle on patents Rexer changed its focus on producing the Rexer Steam Car, without success. L323, £1 shares certificate, 1906, vignette of aiming soldier 

There is a lot more to discover. Collectors of scripophily from South Africa, Rhodesia and Egypt will be delighted, as well as those looking for new automobiles, motorcycles and tobacco material !

Here are the sale's details : 

• Location : online auction only
• Date : ends on 16 February, 2021 at 11:00 AM
• Further info : see Spink's online catalogue with full color images here 

Into African and Belgian Congo scripophily? Then this top signature of Henry Morton Stanley will definitely interest you. As an agent of King Leopold II of Belgium, Stanley searched for the source of the Nile and explored central Africa. Detail from L303, W. T. Henley's Telegraph Works Company Limited

F.L.

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Antwerp meets scripophily !

The city of Antwerp will shortly become a mecca for scripophily. Collecting antique and vintage stock certificates, aka scripophily, took off in the 1970s. People from all over the world are fascinated by the beauty and historic importance of these artefacts. The broad public has now a chance to discover this exciting part of numismatics at Mario Boone's upcoming international auction & bourse weekend.

One of the sale's top historic items is this 1826 share from the Compagnie des Mines de Fer de St. Étienne. The company mined coal and iron, and operated the first modern iron works in France. In fact, the first French railway was constructed to connect the St. Étienne works with the Loire. Representing a milestone in the industrial history of France, this share, issued to its founder, mining engineer Louis Georges Gabriel de Gallois, is also one of the earliest shares with an engraving of blast furnaces. Lot 432 in the auction, is expected to realize at least €3,000.

In comparison to coins, banknotes and stamps, antique stocks and bonds are much less available on the collector's market. The Boone auction house has been a specialist in scripophily for over four decades and is now holding its 63rd sale on the 9th of November in Antwerp. More than 1400 lots will be hammered.

Etablissements Pieper à Liège & Nessonvaux , 100 Francs bearer share, 1898

As you can tell from this share's design - click image to enlarge - this Belgian company manufactured handguns and rifles, such as the Bayard 1908 pistol and, under license, the Bergmann–Bayard pistol. The company, established by the German Henry Pieper, also built small cars from 1899 to 1903. Already in 1900 Pieper introduced - today unimaginable for many - a pure electric model, and a hybrid petrol-electric car. The Pieper factory was later taken over by Imperia. This share is signed by Nicolas Pieper and its wonderful design was made by painter Emile Berchmans. Lot 293, starts at €400.

The sale catalogue, available online and as an offline PDF document, includes color images and background stories of the certificates to be sold. For easy retrieval purposes, search indexes help the collector on his quest for about 100 countries and an equal number of special interest themes, security printers, engravers and artists.

Auction lot 199 comprises a share in the Conservera Marroqui SA, Tétouan, a company that sold canned fish. The gorgious design, showing a city gate at the the sea shore, includes the Star of David. After the Reconquista and the Spanish Inquisition many Sephardi Jews migrated from Spain and settled in the Mediterranean port of Tétouan, Morocco. This company was incorporated in 1947. After the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, hostilities from the Arab population towards Moroccan Jewish communities broke out. Fear that Morocco's imminent independence from France would lead to further persecution led to large-scale emigration. By 1950, there were very few Jews left in Tétouan.

I learned from the catalog's autographs index that several certificates were signed by or issued to historic figures : e.g. Emile & Isaac Pereire, Frits Philips, William H. Vanderbilt, Henry Wells, etc. The certificate below bears the signature of David D. Buick.

Issued in 1911, this Buick Oil Company share is signed by Scottish-born American D(avid) D(unbar) Buick.

His famous Buick Motor Company was established in 1902. Six years later he sold it to General Motors. 100 years later, the eight production generation of the Buick LeSabre was still a best steller. Lot 1403 in the sale, bids accepted from €200 

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

Auction details

• Location : Antwerp Crowne Plaza Hotel, Belgium
• Date : auction 9 November 2019, bourse 10 November 2019
• Further info : online catalogue here, and PDF version there 

F.L.

Kawasaki in the year 2889

We are in the year 2889. By then, all objects in museums are virtualized. People can download a perfect but scaled copy of any thinkable museum object and have it rendered in their living room as a tangible three-dimensional image. The objects that are speaking volumes are the ones the general public like the most. And you? Well, you are an archaeologist specialized in 20th century financial artefacts.

That day you are excavating a chamber at an ancient site which seems to be an office building from the 1960s. Yes, that is funny, back then people used to assemble all day long in a dedicated building to do office work. Anyway, the chamber you are working on, contains a safe weighing about 100 pounds. Your hand-scanner tells you there are documents inside the safe. With your tools, you manage to open it in no time. Wow, the parcel inside contains a set of old stock certificates. In the 20th century, people printed shares on paper for representing ownership in companies. Most of these certificates perished. One of the shares stands out from the others. It is speaking volumes.

With a PhD in Ancient Oriental Languages and Cultures, you translate the long line of characters on top. It is ancient Japanese, and you need to read it in the old way : from right to left. 

'Kabushiki Kaisya', 株式會社 are the first words and mean stock/limited company. A common term on Japanese certificates. You mouth the following word much slower : 'Kawa', 川, and 'saki', 崎, 'together Kawasaki', 川崎. Aha, that's interesting, halfway now. 

Already from the start you identified the last two symbols, 'Kabuken',  株券, 'share certificate'. Then you speak loudly, 'Zōsen', 造船, 'shipbuilding .. Tokoro, place', 所. 'Wait a minute, together they form Zōsensho, shipyard !',  造船所. You have figured it out : 'Kabushiki Kaisya Kawasaki Zōsensho Kabuken! I found a share in the Kawasaki Shipyard Co. Ltd '. With your hand-scanner you look up the flag printed on the share. Yep, that is the one.

Six months later, a new exhibition of the objects unearthed by you is launched at the Central Museum. The Kawasaki share is one of the highlights. As one of the museum's educators, you are leading a school group around the show. Of course, you spend time on the Kawasaki and explain all about the way business initiatives and innovations were financed 900 years ago. Some of the kids are babbling on anything but the tour, others look a bit bored. One of the kids raises its arm. 'Yes ?'. The group now turns quiet and looks at you first, then at the kid who says, 'If this piece of paper was meant to finance a business, what type of business would that have been?' The other kids are speechless and are now all staring at you.

Happy with the question and all the attention you have, you clarify 'Well, that could be anything you can think of, but in this case, you can see from the vignettes, the little pictures on the certificate, what this company was all about.' Now, for the first time, all the kids turn to the display case and inspect the Kawasaki share. 'They made ships !', shouts one of them and they all look at you again. 'That is correct ! The Kawasaki Shipyard Company was founded in 1896 and already one year later the company completed the Ivomaru, its first ship. If you look carefully, you can see a drawing of the shipyard behind the lettering. At Kawasaki they were very inventive. In 1906 they completed their first submarine. They even made battlecruisers like the Haruna, which was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and II !'.

After reducing contrast, the underprint of the Kawasaki share reveals 

an image of a dockyard with ships under construction.

click to enlarge image

'And they also made cars .. and airplanes .. and locomotives !', they tell each other and leave their finger prints all over the display case. The kid that posed the first question, raises its arm again. 'Yes?', you wonder amused, 'What's your name ?'. The whole group answers instead, 'Sidney!'. 'Yes, Sidney, what is it ?'  Again, the group turns quiet and Sidney continues, 'These large vertical signs, they look like a cartouche. Is this from a Pharaoh ?' To everyone's reassurance you can not suppress a smile. 'Sidney, that's is actually a good question. A cartouche, an oval with a horizontal line at one end, encloses a royal name and was used in Ancient Egypt.' The boys and girls look disappointed but turn their heads to the share certificate again when you proceed, 'But, as is the case with this Kawasaki share, a signature of a high official or very important person was often printed in such a vertical way.'

'Do you see these five large vertically written characters over here?', and with your light pen you point out the position on the share. 'The first two stand for Matsukata.' , 松方. Some children try to mumble the word. 'The last three are Kōjirō.', 幸次郎 . 'So from top to bottom you read Matsukata Kōjirō.', 松方幸次郎. 'Now repeat all together !' They all chant Matsukato Kōjirō in unison. 

'Matsukata Kōjirō was born in 1865, that's more than a 1,000 years ago, and he was the son of the Prime Minister of Japan. Kōjirō became president of the Kawasaki Shipyard Company in 1896.' 

'Was he rich ?', someone asks. 'Oh yes, his business was very successful for some time. Kōjirō also wanted to give something in return to the people in his country. With the fortune he accumulated, he bought lots of Western European and Japanese art and wanted to build an art museum. Unfortunately he died in 1950 before he could realize his dream. But soon large parts of his collection found a home in Japan's National Museum of Western Art in Ueno and the Tokyo National Museum.'

'I have another question', adds Sidney, 'My dad rides a Kawasaki motorbike, why don't we see a motorbike on the share ?'  Some kids nod, they obviously know Sidney's father. 'Great question Sidney.' The group is proud to have Sidney on board. 'You see, this share was issued in 1921', and you point out the date 大正拾年 on the Kawasaki share. 'In Japan, years were then expressed as the number of years in the reign of the emperor starting with 1. 大正 represents Emperor Taishō, 拾 stands for 10 and 年 is the word for year. Taishō's first year of reign is 1912. So the date we see here is 1912 10 -1 which results in 1921. Now, that was easy, isn't it ?'. Everyone in the group tries to convince one another that it was easy. So you continue, 'Kawasaki started producing motorcycles more than 30 years later; therefore we see no motorbike on the share. The first motorbikes were produced by Kawasaki's Aircraft Division. That's why the emblem's on their fuel tanks looked like the Kawasaki flag within a wing.'

Later at home, Sidney tells mom and dad about the museum visit. The child activates the home visualizer and downloads a virtual replica of the Kawasaki share. It rotates slowly in the air when Sidney walks around it. 'Omigosh!'  The floor lamp shines through the image and a large watermark becomes visible.

Reading from right to left the watermark of the Kawasaki share says 

壹拾  株券 : 1x10  share certificates

株式 會社 : Kabushiki Kaisya  = Co., Ltd.

川崎 造船所 Kawasaki Shipyard

In 1969 the Kawasaki Shipyard company merges with its earlier spin-offs, 

Kawasaki Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Kawasaki Aircraft, 

into Kawasaki Heavy Industries.

F.L.

Related links

• Wikipedia's Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corporation   
• Reading Japanese dates on stocks and bonds 

The Tokyo Motor Show 2013 featured the Kawasaki J Concept motorbike.

Image by Morio [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Be careful with explanation notes !

Introduction : Northrop the first commercial computer customer

In 1939 Jack Northrop founds Northrop Aircraft Inc. This aircraft manufacturer is established nearby Hawthorne, California. The Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter will become one of the most effective and sucessful U.S. air-to-air fighters in the 1960s and early 1970s. Already during World War II Northrop starts developing missiles and from the 1950s unmanned aerial vehicles are produced as well. The fine vignette above can be seen on a certificate from the Northrop Corporation. 

Just after World War II, Northrop orders from the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation (EMCC) an electronic stored-program computer to deal with the many complex calculations required for the design and construction of aircraft and missiles. EMCC develops the BINAC, the Binary Automatic Computer and delivers it to Northrop in 1949. The BINAC is EMCC's first product and the world's first commercial digital computer. And so Northrop becomes the first company in the world using a digital computer. The BINAC, however, after delivery to its customer, turns out not to work properly. 

One year later Northrop develops on its own the Magnetic Drum Digital Differential Analyzer (MADDIDA), an electronic version of a mechanical differential analyzer. Such a device solves differential equations by integration. Another year later, in 1951, Northrop builds the Quadratic Arc Computer (QUAC), a special purpose digital computer which computes information to be recorded on magnetic tape for the XSM-62 Snark missile guidance system. In 1959 the name of the company is changed into Northrop Corporation. In the 1960s Northrop's Nortronics Division introduces the NDC-1051, a small general purpose digital airborne computer.

Northrop's history is a fascinating one. I hope you don't mind me bringing this little historic note as an introduction to the topic of this article. In fact, only this particular Northrop share certificate is relevant here.

Northrop Corporation
$1.45 cumulative preferred stock, specimen
Jeffries Banknote Company, printed in the 1960s

Hurray, interesting certificate ! Ew, what are these spots ?

In the image below, you can clearly notice that the spots in the certificate's left corner are actually printed characters. Click the image below, to enlarge the details.

How is that possible ? The certificate was clean, actually perfect at the moment of purchase. After acquisition the share certificate was put in a scripophily collector's album sheet at once.  

An explanation note is to blame.

The previous image shows an empty album sheet. Nothing to worry about ? Wait and see. Put a white paper in the album sheet. 

Now the imprinted characters become visible. Apparently these characters were the ones that were transferred to the share certificate. Strange. 

What actually has happened was this :

1. A certificate was put in the album sheet. Like many of us do, an explanation note was prepared, often a company profile, and put together with the certificate in the sheet.
2. Under pressure of the other sheets in the album, the characters of the note, mostly printed in black, were transferred to the transparant sheet side. Did you know that a full album weighs about 3 kilograms (6.6 pounds) and a big one, like the one shown 5 kilograms (11 pounds).
3. For some reason, the original certificate, and the corresponding note, is removed from the sheet. A portion of the note's characters remains invisible against the black backside of the sheet.
4. After some time, maybe months later, another stock certificate is inserted in that sheet again. Ignorant of any harm the album is stored away. 
5. A few days later, your new certificate is spoiled. Damage is done. Again under pressure, the characters of the note that was once put in that sheet, are transferred to your new certificate.

The Northrop logo consists of a stylished seagull
see image below

Tips

I've seen others on scripophily bourses showing certificates with accompanying notes in the same sheets. Some advice.

• Do not store your certificates together with explanatory notes in the same sheet. If you want to see a note along your scripophily items, put the notes in dedicated sheets.
• If you are not sure whether you use a brand new album sheet, use a blank piece of paper to check if any characters from an old note have been transferred onto the inside of the sheet. See the example image above.
• Is an album sheet spoiled with transferred characters, then throw away that album sheet.
• Is a certificate spoiled, then there is nothing that you can do. If you want to prevent that certificate from "contaminating" other album sheets, then put it in a smaller album sheet and store that whole in your album.

Northrop Aircraft, Inc.
100 common shares of $1, specimen
facsimile signature of John Knudsen "Jack" Northrop (1895 – 1981)
printed by Jeffries Banknote Co. around the 1940s

F.L.
Signed the Guest Book yet ?

Related links

• Northrop Corporation 
• Jack Northrop 
• BINAC 
• Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Computer Oral History Collection, 1969-1973, 1977

IBSS - Mail bid auction May 2013

The International Bond and Share Society, sets its next (members only) auction date to 31st May 2013. This auctions counts 220 lots from more than 30 countries spanning more than 200 years of scripophily material.

The Birmingham Small Arms Company Ltd
Ordinary stock certificate, 1968
embossed seal depicting rifles
double-click image to enlarge

• Date : May 31, 2013
• Place : not applicable, this is a mail bid auction only
• Practical info, see here 
• Auction catalogue can be downloaded  here, and images of the lots are listed there 

F.L.

P.S. Not a member yet ? Check this .

Fencing in Soerabaya

Fencing is a very uncommon topic in scripophily. This share was issued in 1897 for the establishment of a gymnastics and fencing school in Soerabaya, now the capital of the province of East Java. Under Dutch colonial government, Soerabaya became a major trading center, competing with Singapore, and hosted the largest naval base in the Dutch East Indies.

Maatschappij tot exploitatie van een gebouw ingericht voor gijmnastiek en schermschool

English: Company for the exploitation of a building fitted for a gymnastics and fencing school

Modern fencing evolved from the methods taught at the Ecole Française d'Escrime, founded in 1567. This explains also the origins of the french fencing terminology still in use. Fencing has been featured at every one of the modern Olympic Games since 1896. The organization of world cup competitions and Olympic fencing is the responsability of the french Fédération Internationale d'Escrime, founded in 1913.