Most people collect antique stock certificates by type, or
theme, to give a common thread to their collection and to
add passion to the search for specific certificates (though
most of us also "cheat" and collect others just because we
like them).
Collecting themes also provides a logical way to organize
or display your favorite stock certificates.
The "Part I" article before this one discussed themes of
Industry, Geography, Vignette (artwork), Family
Relationship (name) and Time Period. Here are some other
popular themes:
1.Events, or some portion of one - Examples: Civil War,
Confederate Institutions, Volunteer Bounty Bonds, Veterans
Organizations
2.Firsts, or among the firsts - Examples: Experimental
Aircraft (Custer Channel Wing), Steam Locomotives (Tom
Thumb), seminal autos (Willys-Overland Jeep), first
electrically wired cities (Cincinnati Edison), current
companies over a century old (Wells Fargo)
3.Famous Names, issued to or signed by - Examples:
Rockefeller, Disney, Remington, Pabst, Houdini, Rothschild,
Chaplin, Buick, Morgan, Ames, Lorillard...
4.Extreme Numbers on the certificate - Examples: Bonds for
$1,000,000 or more, stock certificates for more than 10,000
shares or less than 10 shares, company capital of less than
$1 million, low registration number (three digits or less)
5.Unissued (the printed date usually has a blank in it,
such as 187_) - These are certificates that were never
authorized, filled out and given to a share owner. They
have usually come from storage and archives of the
companies, banks and printers that were involved with the
issuance process.
Some people prefer unissued documents because they often
are in better condition than "used" certificates. Other
collectors prefer issued ones because the names, writing
and wear show they were held in people's hands and used in
commerce a century or more ago.
There are literally millions of permutations possible by
crossing themes. For example, if your family can be traced
to Philadelphia, you might collect issued, canceled (the
word is usually spelled with one L, but not always), green
certificates that have one or two digit registration
numbers with portrait vignettes from the 1800's.
Or, maybe not. If your family name is Miller, you could
just buy Grandpa a "Millerstown Iron Company" stock
certificate, have it framed and give it to him for
Christmas. Guaranteed, he won't get duplicates of that
gift.
So you can decide on a theme(s), or just browse and absorb
and maybe a theme will develop as you learn more about
what's available and what strikes that special cord in you.
If nothing else, you will find fascinating insights into
the people and things that made this country.
----------------------------------------------------
Larry Crain is a collector, author and dealer of
Scripophily (the collecting of antique stock certificates).
Visit http://www.RealStockCertificates.com for images,
values, other articles and research tools for old stock
certificates. Old company and industry information can be
found at http://www.RealStockHistories.blogspot.com .
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