Stock certificates and bonds frequently make for a wonderful aesthetic extension of revenue stamp collecting, as many are ornately drawn or engraved, and some of the company names and images are very interesting.
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Extremely early usage.
It makes no sense that a January 1862 transaction would have been taxed. It is obviously not an errant date mistake, as the year is written in 4 different places.
This blue handstamp cancel is found fairly often, but this is the first document I have found that attributes the cancel.
Stock certificate from the American Express Co. featuring signatures of Henry Wells and William Fargo.
American Merchants Union Express Company stock certificate issued in 1868. Signed by William G. Fargo as president. After cutthroat competition between the Merchants Union Express Company and American Express for a couple of years, the companies merged in 1868 with William Fargo as president. At this point, Henry Wells retired from the company. In 1873, American Merchants Union Express Company was renamed American Express Company.
Stock certificate from The American Submarine Co.
Stock certificate, signed by William Mahone as president, former Confederate general.
Great strike of shield handstamp cancel on a fairly scarce stock certificate printed on delicate translucent parchment. Cancel is Tolman A-9A.
Stock certificate from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Co.
Otherwise common railroad bond, but very low serial number (#7) out of approximately 20,000 printed. More importantly, the imprinted revenues were just haphazardly positioned, which was fixed at some point before serial number 128, and then aligned from that point onward. See secondary image for the normal positioning.
Stock certificate from the Boston and Providence Railroad Corp.
Stock certificate from the Boston, Clinton & Fitchburg Railroad Co.
Stock certificate from the Boston, Newport and New York Steamboat Co.
Wonderfully ornate script handstamp cancels on this gold mine stock certificate.
First mortgage bond from the Cape Breton Coal Mining Co., located on Cape Breton Island, part of Nova Scotia, Canada.
Stock certificate from the Chester Mining Co.
Unissued stock certificate from The Chicago & South Western Railway Co.
Stock certificate.
Stock certificate.
Stock certificate from the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Co.
Stock certificate featuring a detailed mining vignette at bottom center, stamp canceled by Toland Brothers. & Co.
$1,000 mortgage bond from The Cincinnati, Lafayette and Chicago Railroad.
Attractive and ornate $1,000 bond from The Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway.
Stock certificate from the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati & Indianapolis Railway Co.
Beautiful bicolor stock certificate with paddlewheel steamer vignette and hammered embossed seal featuring a locomotive. This is the first document I've obtained from the Washington Territory.
Stock certificate from the Columbus & Indianapolis Central Railway Co.
Stock certificate from the Consumer's Mutual Coal Co.
Very nice stock certificate. I have seen these with the stamp canceled by a normal concentric circle handstamp, but this is the first one I have seen with the earlier oval handstamp.
Preferred stock certificate.
Stock certificate from the Delaware Railroad Co.
Very delicate stock certificate printed on thin translucent paper.
Stock certificate from the Dunkirk, Warren & Pittsburgh Railway Co.
Stock certificate from the Eliza Mill and Mining Company in San Francisco.
Unusual combination of stamps paying the 25 cent tax on this oil company stock certificate: a 20-cent Foreign Exchange, the scarcer of the two 20-cent denominations, not frequently seen on document, and a 5-cent Playing Cards, which was not supposed to be used for documentary purposes, so this constitutes an improper usage.
Three revenue imprints on this large railroad bond from The Flint and Pere Marquette Railway Co. RN-W2 and an imprint of RN-P5 on the front, and an additional imprint of RN-P5 on the back.
One of the most beautiful stock certificates ever produced (in my opinion).
Stock certificate from the Green Mountain Coal Co.
Fragile stock certificate printed on thin translucent paper like tissue paper.
Stock certificate from the Hackettstown National Bank.
A pair and two singles (one bisected) and an R167p single with various cancels on a stock certificate with great color scheme and American Indian vignette.
Very scarce printed cancel.
Very scarce part perf to find still on original document. Part of next stamp showing at bottom.
Very scarce stock certificate.
1899 stock certificate for 1 share of the Little Miami Railroad Co. Nice embossed seal depicting a train.
Very nice example of multiple transactions on the same document spanning the implementation of the Civil War tax. The original sale of the Little Miami Railroad stock on July 15, 1862 was nontaxable, but the transfer of the stock shown on the back of the stock certificate was taxed. The document also exhibits a combination of both imperforate and perforated revenue stamps as well as a very crisply struck handstamp cancel.
Very unusual mining stock certificate from a company supposedly located in the 'Montania Territory'. The only records I can find of said territory is an 1864 New York Times announcement: 'The Committee [on Territories] are also perfecting a bill for the erection of the Territory of Montania, composed of a portion of Idaho and Utah Territories.' Very interesting item.
Stock certificate from the Louisville Bridge Co.
Stock certificate from The Mammoth Vein Coal and Iron Co.
Stock certificate.
5-cent, 1-cent, and 25-cent battleship documentaries paying the tax on a stock transfer of shares in the Mexican Telephone Company.
Stock certificate from the Milwaukee and Prairie Du Chien Railway Co.
Lovely 1866 stock certificate with a steamship vignette and a bold company seal also depicting a steamship.
Sewing machine perfs are exceptionally rare on document. This stamp appears to have been re-used. The September 30 cancel is tied to the document and matches the date of the document, but there is an earlier handstamp cancel on the stamp NOT tied to the document. I've seen many other examples of this stock certificate, and many of them seem to have this doubly-canceled anomaly.
Capital stock certificate.
Stock certificate #12 from the Newton Mining Co.
1866 Stock certificate.
Stock certificate from the Panama Rail Road Co.
Stock certificate from the Panama Rail Road Co.
Note brokers.
Stock certificate.
Gorgeous Phillips & Jordan Iron Co. stock certificate, featuring an R112 with socked-on-the nose cancel at right along with a hammered matching embossed seal at left. What really takes this certificate to 11 is the manufacturing vignette at center. It may not be apparent in the scan, but it is printed in reflective metallic bronze, extremely unusual.
Stock certificate from the Preston Coal and Improvement Co.
Stock certificate from the Quincy Mining Company of Michigan, featuring an R44b with nice multiple-line handstamp cancel.
R47a and R48c used on a Quincy Mining Co. stock certificate.
Stock certificate.
Stock certificate with an attractive large vignette of a warehouse at a wharf with ship.
Very ornately engraved stock certificate.
Very unusual and scarce stock certificate that is entirely handwritten.
Stock certificate for the Rutland Marble Co. with two R44c affixed.
Stock certificate from the Salem Rail Road.
Very early usage. Stock scrip certificate is dated November 20, 1862, but it appears that tax wasn't paid until January 1, 1863. I'm not sure why it was only taxed at the 10-cent rate, as certificates from incorporated companies should have been taxed at 25 cents.
Vertical pair, used improperly as revenues, along with a myriad of hyphen-hole perforated battleship documentaries, paying tax on a stock transfer, on the reverse of a stock certificate issued to and signed by one of the company owneers. Additionally, the 2-cent battleship documentary next to the postage stamps is also an improper/illegal use, as it is a reused revenue stamp, dated a full 2 years befoe the date this stock certificate was ever issued.
Very attractive $7.50 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Very attractive $15 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Very attractive $35 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Very attractive $17.50 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Very attractive $75 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Very attractive $175 Certificate of Indebtedness with an ornately engraved reverse, from The South Carolina Railroad Co.
Stock certificate.
Interesting stock certificate, taxed when issued in 1871 and subsequently in 1899 when redeemed/transferred.
Stock certificate from the Swedesboro Rail Road Co.
Great SON handstamp on a stock certificate from the Terre Haute & Richmond Railroad.
Wonderful 3-color stock certificate from the Triunfo Gold and Silver Mining Co. in San Francisco, CA.
Railroad bond.
Ex-Steven Belasco. From his exhibit: 'Edgar H. Judkins, a Lowell Mass. stamp dealer, began using the name United States Stamp Company in 1865. E.T. Gage was a clerk in Lowell. In 1866 they sold shares in the United States Stamp Company in what may have been the first syndication of a stamp business. At least 100 shares were sold to several different investors. The 5-cent revenue rate applied to shares in an unincorporated company.'
Unissued stock certificate.
Stock certificate from the Washington Silver Mining Co.
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