Thomas Edison Portland Cement Company Stock Certificate // 1900s - 1920s

Offered here is an original stock certificate from the Edison Portland Cement Company dated in the early 1900s.

Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847 – October 18, 1931) has been described as America's greatest inventor. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. He held 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as patents in several other countries. The Edison Portland Cement Company was a venture by Edison that helped improve the cement industry. His company was established in New Village, New Jersey in 1899, and went on to supply the concrete for the construction of Yankee Stadium in 1922. The company only lasted a few years after the construction of the stadium, falling victim to the Great Depression.

A stock certificate is a physical piece of paper representing ownership in a company. Stock certificates include information such as the shareholder name, number of shares owned, date issued, an identification number, and usually a corporate seal and signatures. Unlike a stock, a bond is a fixed income instrument that represents a loan made by an investor to a borrower, typically a government or corporation, to finance projects and operations. A bond certificate includes the loan terms, bond holder, principle due date, number and value of interest payments, and usually a corporate seal and signatures. Many vintage bond certificates also include attached interest payment coupons, which needed to be physically cut off the bond and redeemed for each interest payment.

Throughout history, companies competed to produce the most impressive stock and bond certificates, with brilliant colors, intricate designs, and beautiful vignettes. However, with the rise of the internet and online brokerage firms in the 1990s, the need for physical certificates disappeared. One by one, companies quietly discontinued issuance of their paper stocks and bonds. A newsworthy example was Walt Disney's decision in 2013 to phase out their colorful stock certificates featuring renditions of their beloved animated characters. The eventual demise of the stock certificate ends a tradition that extends back at least 400 years, when the Dutch East Indies Company became the first company to issue certificates. Today, the beautiful stock and bond certificates that remain are enduring relics from a bygone era in American financial history.

The expert staff of Olevian Numismatic Rarities unconditionally guarantees the authenticity of every historic document we sell, and all signatures contained therein. A certificate of authenticity will be included with each item.