On Tuesday, November 24, 1987 Sotheby’s of London auctioned a large archive of Confederate bonds. The lot was described as “A major and extremely extensive archive of unredeemed bearer bonds issued by the Confederate States of America between 1861 and 1864, comprising over 87,000 individual certificates for numerous Loans authorized by Acts of The Confederate Congress.” This exceptional holding represented the entire surviving portfolio of Confederate Bonds. controlled by United Kingdom Trustees since the 1880s. The original objective of the Trustees was to get the Southern States debt paid following the Civil War. Of course, this dream had long since been abandoned.
as Frederick R. Mayer of Denver, Colorado. His goal was to create world class collections that could be turned into books or catalogs, thus adding to the knowledge and pleasure of future collectors. That is exactly what Mr. Mayer accomplished with his extraordinary collection of Confederate bonds. Many of the great rarities were used to provide the plate illustrations in Ball’s “Confederate Bonds” book.
On Sept. 7, 1881, the James gang attempted their last train robbery of the Chicago & Alton train at Blue Cut, near Glendale, Missouri. The gang made off with $3000 in cash and jewelry. In less than a year, Jesse James would be dead.
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We occasionally see one of the bonds issued and signed in 1866 by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, erstwhile President of Mexico. They are interesting pieces, and always attract strong demand and a good price. The design of the bonds is very similar to that of US Government Bonds of the period, doubtless not a coincidence.
worthiness must have appeared uncertain, to say the least. The bonds seen are uncancelled. To give confidence to investors, the bonds carry a reference to the State, City, and County of New York - but inspection shows this is only a notary’s declaration - and a large but entirely unwarranted heading “United States of America.” Repayment was promised for 1868, but was dependent on Santa Anna’s return to power, which never happened. Most were presumably destroyed by disappointed investors.
e difficult to authenticate, per dollar spent, they are often not a good value, the historic significance has been severed and usually will never be known.
In January of this year, Zimbabwe's acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa announced Zimbabwean's will be allowed to "conduct business in other currencies, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar, in an effort to stem the country's runaway inflation." The Zimbabwean dollar has been called a "laughing stock" on the heels of the introduction of a Z$100 trillion note.The Zimbabwean dollar is subdivided into 100 cents. It is normally abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or alternatively Z$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. The country's world-record hyperinflation, 231,000,000% in July 2008, has left the Zimbabwean dollar virtually worthless.
Labarre Galleries has four (4) Zimbabwe Notes. The set includes 10, 20, 50, and 100 Trillion Dollar notes.
nment, in turn, succumbed to the Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong in the late 1940s.
The Buick Oil Company was founded by the auto pioneer David Dunbar Buick (1854-1929) and was incorporated in Los Angeles, California in March, 1910. D. D. Buick signs this great stock as President. Rare and excellent condition.
ually unknown in his native land. Buick founded the company that grew into the General Motors Corporation of America. Over 17,000,000 cars bearing his name and crest have rolled off production lines, yet he was involved in making only 120 of them.
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), Industrialist, Philanthropist. Rockefeller formed the first oil trust at the age of 30. Ten years later he monopolized 85% of the industry and became the world’s first billionaire. He hated waste and inefficiency. As a result he would target poorly run segments of the industry. He would often drive poorly run competition out of business or buy them out. He became the most detested man in the country and had a bodyguard continuously around him.
nt stub and at back on a document or on the stock by Griscom. Griscom was President of International Navigation Co., also owned practically all of the stock of Red Star Line, a Belgian Corp, International Navigation Co. of Liverpool England, and Empire Transportation Company, Seattle. In 1902, the name of the International Navigation Co was changed to International Mercantile Marine Co. and capital increased to acquire fleets and businesses of the White Star Line and several others. White Star Line owned the Titanic. Ironically, Griscom died in November of 1912 just a few months after the sinking of the Titanic.
Another item of note related to the Titanic that we've acquired is a rare 1912 print of the Titanic. This reprint is on thick cream colored card stock (15”x 27.5”). It includes details of the disaster including map, number of passengers, etc. Plus another large print with a side view of the Titanic and its history.
This week, Millvina Dean, the last survivor of the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic, passed away. She was 97. Millvina was only six weeks old at the time of the disaster. Her father was lost with the men in the steerage.
