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scripophily is an interesting area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document

Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and bonds

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Scripophily

Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and bonds. A specialized field of numismatics, scripophily is an interesting area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document. Some stock certificates are excellent examples of engraving. Occasionally, an old stock document will be found that still has value as a stock in a successor company.

History

Scripophily, the collecting of canceled old stocks and bonds, gained recognition as a hobby around the mid-1970s. The word resulted combining words from English and Greek. The word "scrip" represents an ownership right and the word "philos" means to love. Today there are thousands of collectors worldwide in search of scarce, rare, and popular stocks and bonds. Collectors who come from the a variety of businesses enjoy this as a hobby, although there are many who consider scripophilya good investment. In fact, over the past several years, this hobby has exploded. Dot com companies and scandals have been particularly popular.

Many collectors like the historical significance of certificates. Others prefer the beauty of older stocks and bonds that were printed in various colors with fancy artwork and ornate engraving.

Many autograph collectors are found in this field, looking for signed certificates from John D. Rockefeller of Standard Oil Company, Henry Carey of Franklin Fire Insurance Company, Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Atari Corporation, Eddie Rickenbacker as president of Eastern Air Lines, George W. Bush's great-grandfather Samuel Prescott Bush, Broadband.com, Tucker Corporation and many others.

Scripophily as a Hobby

There are many reasons for the success of this hobby. First of all, stocks/bonds are collectible worldwide, since almost every country has had stocks and/or bonds issued through their governments or businesses.

A large part of the scripophily is the area of financial history. Over the years there have been millions of companies which needed to raise money for their businesses. In order to do so, the founders of these companies issued securities. Generally speaking, they either issued an equity security in the form of stock or a debt security in the form of a bond. However, there are many variations of equity and debt instruments. They can be common stock, preferred stock, warrants, cumulative preferred stocks, bonds, zero-coupon bonds, long term bonds (over 400 years) and any combination thereof.

scripophily represents that it will purchase the shares only through a registered broker-dealer

Each certificate is a piece of history about a company and its business. Some companies became major successes, while others were acquired and merged with other companies. Some of the companies and industries were successful until they were replaced by improvements in technologies. The color, paper, signatures, dates, stamps, cancellations, borders, pictures, vignettes industry, stock broker, name of company, transfer agent, printer, holder name all add to the uniqueness of the hobby.

A lot of companies were never successful and the certificates became worthless pieces of paper, until the hobby of scripophily began. The mining boom in the 1850s, railroad construction in the 1830s, the oil boom in the 1870s, telegraphy (1850s), the automobile industry beginning around 1900, aviation (around 1910), electric power and banks in the 1930s, the airline wars and mergers in the 1970s, cellular telephones (1980s), long distance telephone service in the 1990s, and most recently the Dot com era all resulted in historically significant certificates being generated and issued.

With the existence of the Internet, more and more stocks and bonds are issued electronically, meaning fewer paper certificates are issued as a percentage of actual stock issued. However, the Internet has also played a major role in creating awareness of the hobby.

Continue to learn more about scripophily, please visit MyWiseOwl.

Welcome to scripophily

Scripophily (script-awfully), the collecting of 'worthless' old stocks and bonds, gained recognition as an area of serious interest around the mid-1970s. Today there are thousands of collectors worldwide in search of scarce, rare, and popular stocks and bonds. Collectors who come from the numerous business fields mainly enjoy its hobby aspect, though there are those who consider scripophily an investment. Some collectors like the historical significance that certificates have. Others prefer the beauty of older stocks and bonds that were printed in various colors with fancy artwork and ornate engraving. Even autograph collectors are found in this field, on the outlook for signed certificates. In recent months, there have been several articles in magazines and newspapers about the investment potential in collecting stocks and bonds. Prices are rising reflecting strong demand. As good material becomes harder and harder to find, scripophily is expected to be the investment collectible of the 1990s, like baseball cards did in the 1980s! The Washington Historical Autograph and Certificate Organization (WHACO!) is an association for collectors in the Baltimore - Washington - Richmond area for their mutual benefit in collecting historical autographs and certificate material. Their objective is to educate members on the historical times and events depicted, and inform them about the trends and prices of these antique materials. (For more information on WHACO! write to P.O. Box 2428, Springfield, VA 22152-0428.) Many factors help determine a certificate's collector value:

scripophily is new compared with collectibles like stamps, coins and banknotes
  • Autograph Value
  • Age of the Certificate
  • The Industry Represented
  • Whether It Is Issued or Not
  • Its Attractiveness
  • Condition
  • Collector Demand

Certificates from the mining, energy, and railroad industries are the most popular with collectors. Other industries or special collecting fields include banking, automobiles, aircraft, territorials, tobacco, beverages, and sports. Unissued certificates are usually worth one-fourth to one-eighth the value of one that has been issues. Inexpensive issued common stocks and bonds dated between the 1940s and 1980s usually retail between $2 to $10. Those dating between the 1890s and 1930s usually sell for $10 to $50. Those over 100 years old retail between $25 to $100 or more, depending on quantity found. Autographed stocks normally sell anywhere between $100 to $10,000.

Continue to learn more about scripophily, please visit whaco.

What is Scripophily?

It is the collecting of canceled old stocks and bond certificates, Though I also collect other instruments of finance that are of historical interest. I tend to classify these under the banner of Scripophiliy.

Scripophily gained recognition as a hobby around the mid-1970s. The word resulted combining words from English and Greek. The word "scrip" represents an ownership right and the word "philos" means to love.

Today there are thousands of collectors worldwide in search of scarce, rare, and popular stocks and bonds. Collectors who come from the a variety of businesses enjoy this as a hobby, although there are many who consider Scripophily an good investment too. In fact, over the past several years, this hobby has exploded. Many collectors like the historical significance of certificates. Others prefer the beauty of older stocks and bonds that were printed in various colors with fancy artwork with ornate engraving. Many autograph collectors are found in this field, looking for signed certificates of famous.

As interesting certificates become harder to find, Scripophily is expected to be an exciting investment but as with any other investments, especially in antiques, there are never any guarantees.

Each certificate is a piece of history. It describes the company, the type of instrument (usually stock or bond), the year, signatures of officers or officials, the printer, due date for bonds, and much much more. Many of the certificates have pictures or vignettes showing anything from cars to trains to leaders to nothing at all. Due to the information age, more and more stock and bonds are issued electronically which means fewer paper certificates are issued as a percentage of actual stock issued thereby increasing the resale value of these items. Also I feel that because most of these instruments of finance are held in paper form they are more likely to deteriorate and be damaged. As such I believe that this hobby will become a good investment as the number of good quality collectibles become increasingly scarce.

scripophily.com is named after the hobby of collecting old stock and bond certificates

There are many factors that determine value of a certificate including condition, age, historical significance, signatures, rarity, demand for item, aesthetics, type of company, original face value, bankers associated with issuance, transfer stamps, cancellation markings, issued or unissued, printers, and type of engraving process.

The hobby of Scripophily is a fascinating documentation of financial history. Over the years there have been millions of companies which needed to raise money. In order to do so, the founders of these companies issued securities. Generally speaking, they either issued an equity security in the form of stock or a debt security in the form of a bond. However, there are many variations of equity and debt instruments.

Some of the companies became major success stories. Some the companies were acquired and merged into other companies. Some of the companies and industries were major success stories for long periods of time, but were replaced by improvements in technologies. The canal and railroad companies are a good example of this.

Most the companies, however, never made it and the certificates became worthless pieces of paper....until the hobby of Scripophily came along!

My original interest in Scripophility was sparked by a visit to the Poldark Mining Museum in Cornwall in the UK.

In the gift shop there were reams of old tin mining stock certificates lining the walls that the shop had used a display wallpaper. I read the text carefully as I did not know what they were at first. As I read the text I realised that they were bond or company stock that had been sold to investors during the mining boom in Cornwall many many years earlier. I was fascinated as the last Tin mine was closed in Cornwall a long time ago and I started pondering how many of those investors made money. I tried to buy some of the examples from the shop but they were not for sale and I left that at the back of my mind for many years.

During frequent business trips abroad I started collecting foreign money. Realising that there was an endless stream of these I decided to focus in on collecting English paper money. I slowly built up a collection of all the modern bank of England bank notes. From there I started broadening into antique stock certificates and bonds and then onto related material and instruments of finance.

Aside from having the collection of Bank of England notes I have promissory notes (that predate cash and cheques) dating back to the 17th Century. Also from the early part of the 18th Century I have an early building society savings certificate. An act of parliament authorising enlarged capital for the bank of England (1724) and various collectibles including the paper on the day of the trial for the great Scottish banking crash in 1873. South Sea Bubble material is diificult to come by, though I have some. This is a famous crash, Did you realise that it wiped out about 67% of the countries credit and invoked an act of parliament requiring an joint stock companies to be passed through parliament which probably hindered economic growth for many years to come.

I never get to see all of them for real as I have them stored but I have copies on the walls of my house for interest.

I currently looking at, time permitting, the Provincial banks in the UK. I have researched and can trace back the origins of every UK bank that ever existed. I am considering collecting the notes issued by the banks and / or the stock certificates where available. In 1750 there were around 12 banks in the UK. This had risen to over 700 in 1813 till the disasters of 1825. Now there are only a few left, you could probably count the most popular on both hands.

Continue to learn more about scripophily, please visit Peter webb.

Scripophily.com achieves major milestone with 10,000 items Offers Largest Selection of Stock and Bond Certificates in World

Scripophily.com, the Internet’s largest buyer and seller of collectible stock and bond certificates, has achieve a major milestone of having over 10,000 quality selections on our website. Our selections cover the range from Bonds issued by the Confederate States of America to Stocks from Modern Scandals. We have certificates signed by famous people including Henry Wells, William Fargo, Samual Prescott Bush ( Great Grandfather of President Bush ), Andrew Mellon, John Delorean, J.P. Morgan, and many others. We even have certificates from the original Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Company signed by its founders. “ We are very satisfied with our selections and even more satisfied with our high customer satisfaction rating” said Scripophily.com founder and CEO, Bob Kerstein. “These selections help our customers find that special one of a kind gift that only Scripophily.com can provide” Kerstein added.

scripophily is the hobby's name of collecting old stock and bond certificates

Scripophily [scrip-ah-fil-ly] is the hobby’s name of collecting old stock and bond certificates. Historical certificates which otherwise have no value as financial claims, are bought for their artistic and historical value by collectors. Values range from a few dollars to more than $100,000 for the rarest. Tens of thousands of Scripophily buyers worldwide include individuals decorating their home, corporate gift buyers, and serious collectors. Due to electronic trading, a very small percentage of modern stock purchases are made generating a paper certificate due to the high costs and inefficiencies. Furthermore, many stock exchanges worldwide no longer require companies to issued physical stock certificates.

Scripophily.com LLC, The Gift of History, is a leading provider of collectible stock and bond certificates and other old paper items and frequently has items on loan for display in the Smithothium’s Museum of Financial History in New York. The company also offers an old stock research service at OldCompany.com. Scripophily.com was founded by Bob Kerstein who has more than 25 years of senior management experience in the Cellular, Cable TV, Satellite, Internet, Professional Sports and Entertainment Industries.

Scripophily.com has experienced over 9 Million page views on its websites during the past 12 months. There are over 9,000 different selections including categories such as Frauds, Scandals, Bankruptcies, Dot Coms, as well as the more traditional areas such as Railroads, Telephone, Entertainment, Sports, Manufacturing, Mining, Utilities, Oil and Gas, Retail, Tobacco, Food, Banks, Insurance and others.

Continue to learn more about scripophily, please visit Scripophily.

Pre-Revolutionary Russian Bonds Collection

British Library Slavonic and East European Collections

This collection was made available to the British Library on "permanent loan" by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office after the bonds were redeemed under an Anglo-Soviet arrangement in 1986.

The dates of the cancelled certificates range from the early 19th century (among the first shares to be issued in Imperial Russia) right up until the October Revolution of 1917. The bonds were issued in order to meet the Tsarist regime's capital requirements generated by large-scale public investment projects. Numerous Russian cities followed suit, issuing their own bonds to finance municipal projects in local transport systems (principally tramways), education, sanitation and health.

The agreements were subsequently revoked by the Soviet Regime, but the shareholders retained their certificates in the hope that someday they would be honoured by the Soviets. (Russian city bonds were officially quoted on the London and Paris stock exchanges at token prices as late as the 1980s.)

A Russian bond

A settlement was eventually reached in 1986. In the intervening years, the outstanding Soviet debt was the source of much friction between the USSR and the Western powers.

"Scripophily" (the study and collection of bonds and shares) has been established on an international level and societies and study groups devoted to the subject have been founded in recent years. The website Scripophily.com provides useful information and links about the subject. The British Library Slavonic Section would like to express its thanks to Peter Boag for his advice and assistance in processing this collection.

The most comprehensive work on Russian bonds is Ulrich Drumm and Alfons Henseler's 3 volume catalogue Historische Wertpapiere (Frankfurt: Freunde historischer Wertpapiere, 1975-1981). Volumes 1 ('Russische Eisenbahn-Obligationen') and 3 ('Russische Stadtanleihen 1875-1917') contain indexes to Russian railway and city bonds. The "Catalogue No." information provided in the indexes below refers to the more detailed entries supplied by Drumm and Henseler.

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