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Old Stock Certificates
These days, proof of owning part of a company (stocks) is
simply a digitized number in a stockbroker account and maybe
a written transaction confirmation.
It was not always like that. In the past, you would
receive a fancy paper from the company you invested in showing your name and
the amount you invested. This paper (Stock Certificate)
was usually well decorated with the officer's signatures and
sometimes even stated the company's purpose and a picture of
the actual factory, ship, train or whatever.
Studying and collecting these old certificates is called scripophily
and is a growing hobby around the world.
We hope you will enjoy Grinebiter's collection of old stock certificates.
We also encourage you to share stories and pictures
of your stock certificate collection on our Facebook page, specifically
created for our fellow collectors.
First Stock Certificate: The world's oldest "stock corporation" is believed to be Stora Kopparberg in Sweden.
Already in the 1200s, this company was incorporated. Stock Certificates was introduced in the late Renaissance, and was an important
instrument during the industrial revolution.
Is collecting Stock certificates a good investment? They do not make stock certificates anymore. Thus, the supply of
stock certificates are limited which means that the price of the existing stocks should go up as more people get
interested in scripophily and thereby increase the demand.
Valuable Stock Certificates: Stock Certificates from companies that have had a historical significance in society and a
genuine signature, are often the most sought after. For example, a stock certificate from 1876 from Standard Oil,
signed by John D. Rockefeller is worth tens of thousands of dollars. Learn more about
stock certificate valuation.
If you speak norwegian, you may enjoy our old stock certificate descriptions with pictures:
Aksjebrev bilder med historie.
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