Lot Americana

10 Reasons for Scripophily Growth

Scripophily is the collecting of financial documents such as bonds and stock certificates. Such documents, even from a century or more ago, have been preserved and collected by thousands of people who love them. Though less well known than numismatics (coin collecting) or philately (stamp collecting), Scripophily is a growing pursuit for a number of reasons. Here are some of them:

1.Developed Marketplace

Scripophily is a well-developed area of the collectible world, with prominent collectors, dealers and industry associations to help people learn about the different certificates available and the companies behind them.

2.Variety

There are so many variables to each certificate that it is engrossing and downright fun to analyze, categorize and pursue them. You can always find a personal connection to some of them.

3.Historical Significance

Many certificates are legitimate antiques that were made, used and passed down by our ancestors. They were personalized and prized possessions of hard working ranchers, brave miners, steel tycoons, manufacturing innovators, brilliant inventors, oil drilling dreamers, and millions of others.

4.Aesthetics

Certificates generally have vignettes (intricate artwork, usually from etchings), ornate borders, elaborate calligraphy, company seals and a size (about the size of a sheet of paper) that makes them ideal for framing for display or as a gift.

5.Rarity

Though there are lots of bonds and stock certificates available to collectors, there are far fewer of them than there are of other financial collectibles such as coins, paper money or stamps. As a group, certificates are becoming rarer as fewer companies issue paper in this electronic age.

6.Affordability

Because this section of the “money” collectibles is not well known to the masses, most certificates, including very nice ones can be had for less than $100.

7.Collector Value

Though no one can predict the future, it is possible, as with any collectible, that some stock certificates may increase in value over time.

8.Ease of handling

Since certificates are essentially thick pieces of specialized printed paper, they are easy to store, ship, look at, and handle while keeping them protected in clear, flat sleeves.

9.Uniqueness

Every certificate is a unique document, sometimes similar to, but never exactly the same as any other. Just like people!

10.Giftability

Certificates can be the perfect unexpected, yet personalized, gift for that hard-to-buy-for person. Someone whose first car was a Packard, for example, might get a kick out of receiving a stock certificate from the Packard Motor Car Company (and it is nearly impossible someone would give a duplicate of that gift).

The specific reasons for appreciating collectible antique stock certificates are as broad as the thousands of collectors. For you, browse and learn – you may secretly turn out to be one of them.

About the Author

Larry Crain is a collector, blogger and auther on Scripophily (the collecting of antique stock certificates). Images, values, articles and research tools for old stock certificates can be found at RealStockCertificates.com. Old company and industry information can be found at Real Stock Histories

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Americana: Free Parking: The Cult of Walmart

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 5:13 pm and is filed under scrapbooking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.