Scripophily.com Is Offering an Original New England Telephone & Telegraph Company signed by Theodore Vail (First President of AT&T) dated 1883. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and Theodore Vail invented the telephone business.

CBS News – San Diego, California March 29, 2016

Scripophily.com is Offering an Original New England Telephone & Telegraph Company Stock Certificate signed by Theodore Vail (First President of AT&T) dated 1883.

 

New England Telephone & Telegraph Company signed by Theodore Vail (First President of AT&T) - New York 1883

New England Telephone & Telegraph Company signed by Theodore Vail (First President of AT&T) – New York 1883


Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and Theodore Vail invented the telephone business.

Fairfax, Virginia March 29, 2016

Scripophily.com is offering historic stock certificates from the New England Telephone & Telegraph Company which are hand signed by Theodore Vail issued in 1883. This early Bell Operating Company stock certificate has an ornate border around it with the company’s name on top center. This item has the signatures of the company’s president, Theodore Vail and treasurer, William R. Driver. This is the first telephone company certificate we have seen hand signed by Theodore Vail.

New England Telephone & Telegraph Company was chartered on October 19,1883 under the laws of New York State. The company was a merger of the Telephone Dispatch Company, the National Bell Telephone Company of Maine, the Boston and Northern Telephone Company, The Granite State Telephone Company and the Bay State and Suburban Telephone Company. The New England Telephone and Telegraph Company was a subsidiary of the original AT&T Company for seven decades.

Theodore Newton Vail (July 16, 1845 – April 16, 1920) was a U.S. telephone industrialist. Born in Minerva, Ohio, he served as the president of American Telephone & Telegraph (AT&T) between 1885 and 1889, and again from 1907 to 1919. He convinced President Woodrow Wilson that the telephone as a medium of communication would spread more rapidly if it was brought under one monopoly so as to ensure uniform provision of services throughout the country. He called this “one system, one policy, universal service”.

Theodore Vail was one of AT&T’s most far-sighted presidents. He oversaw the building of the first American coast to coast telephone system, and it was his dedication to basic science that initiated a new research arm for AT&T called Bell Laboratories. During his tenure, he set up the Western Electric Company, a division of the company which built telephone equipment.

Vail built the first long distance system, from Boston, Massachusetts to Providence, Rhode Island in 1881. In 1914, the first transcontinental line across the US became operational by AT&T and Vail made the first phone call from New York to San Francisco and a year later phone service was available to Europe.

Scripophily (scrip-ah-fil-ly) is the name of the hobby of collecting old stock and bond certificates. Certificate values range from a few dollars to more than $500,000 for the most unique and rare items. Tens of thousands of Scripophily buyers worldwide include casual collectors, corporate archives, business executives, museums and serious collectors. Due to the computer age, more and more stock and bonds are issued electronically which means fewer paper certificates are being issued. As a result, demand for paper certificates is increasing while supply is decreasing.

Scripophily.com – The Gift of History is the Internet’s leading buyer and seller of collectible stock and bond certificates and have items on loan for display in the Smithsonian’s Museum of Financial History in New York. Our company has been featured on CNBC, USA Today, Associated Press, Reuters, Nightline, Today Show, Baltimore Sun, and Washington Post and in many other media publications. The company also offers the World’s #1 old stock research service at OldCompany.com and offers high resolution scans for publications. Scripophily.com has over 17,500 selections on its website.

Scripophily.com / Old Company Research Service, founding member of the Old Stock Exchange, is the successor company to all material published by the Marvyn Scudders Manuals, the Robert D. Fisher Manuals, R.M. Smythe Stock Research Service, and the Herzog & Co., Inc. obsolete research services. These services have been performed continuously for over 136 years since 1880.

Scripophily.com and Old Company Research Services was founded by Bob Kerstein (Bob.com). Bob is a CPA and CGMA, and has more than 39 years of senior management experience in the Cellular, Cable TV, Satellite, Internet, Professional Sports and Entertainment Industries. Bob is also the President of the Professional Scripophily Traders Association (PSTA) and co founder of the American Stock and Bond Collectors Association.

For more information on Scripophily.com®, visit http://www.scripophily.com, http://www.oldcompany.com, http://www.scripophily.net, http://www.rambo.com, http://www.bob.com or call 1-703-787-3552.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/03/prweb13295643.htm

American Stock and Bond Collectors Association Website Launched to Raise Awareness of Collecting Stock and Bond Certificates

American Stock and Bond Collectors Association (Scripophilyusa.org) Website Launched to Raise Awareness of Collecting Stock and Bond Certificates

The American Stock and Bond Collectors Association (ASBCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering the education and study of American historical securities. Founding Directors Bob Kerstein and Scott Winslow are pleased to announce the launch of the association website (scripophilyusa.org) devoted to the interests of collecting old stock certificates and bonds. “We have developed what we hope to be the destination site for people seeking out information on Scripophily, as the field is known” says Winslow. “We intend to foster an environment of confidence and excitement in the future growth of this wonderful and important part of the history of entrepreneurship” adds Kerstein.

Scripophily [scrip-ah-fil-ly] is the hobby’s name of collecting old stock and bond certificates. Historical certificates which otherwise have no value as financial claims, are bought for their artistic and historical value by collectors. Values range from a few dollars to more than $100,000 for the rarest. Tens of thousands of Scripophily buyers worldwide include individuals decorating their home, corporate gift buyers, and casual and serious collectors.

Those visiting the Association’s website will find much useful information on the history and collecting of stocks and bonds. Information on pricing, grading and where to get in touch with industry leading professionals will be of great assistance to new collectors as well as those who may have certificates to sell. “It is our intention to provide a platform for easy access to shared information for those wishing to become more knowledgeable in the field of Scripophily” says Winslow.

“We want to establish meaningful historical price guides, rating and scarcity standards, so buyers of Scripophily can make a more educated decision before making a purchase” Kerstein notes. Both Winslow and Kerstein are decidedly optimistic that this organization will fill the information gap that has developed as the hobby has grown through the years.

Bob Kerstein is the founder of Scripophily.com and Old Company Research Service.  He is a CPA and CGMA, and has more than 39 years of senior financial management experience in the Cellular, Cable TV, Satellite, Internet, Professional Sports and Entertainment Industries. Bob is also the President of the Professional Scripophily Traders Association (PSTA) and now spends all of his time in the field of Scripophily.

Scott Winslow, president of Scott J. Winslow Associates, Inc. is a member of all the major trade organizations, including the Manuscript Society, and the prestigious Professional Autograph Dealers Association. Mr. Winslow has been involved in the paper collectibles business for over thirty years. He has given numerous talks to various groups on paper collectibles and been consulted in the identification of forged securities and historical materials.

For more information on the The American Stock and Bond Collectors Association please go to scripophilyusa.org, call Bob Kerstein at 1-703-787-3552 or Scott Winslow at 603-641-8292.

ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL – U.S., CHINESE, RUSSIAN AND WORLDWIDE BANKNOTES, SCRIPOPHILY AND COINS – AUCTION MONDAY, APRIL 11th – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13th

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Dr. Robert Schwartz

(201) 944-4800

info@archivesinternational.com

U.S., CHINESE, RUSSIAN AND WORLDWIDE BANKNOTES, SCRIPOPHILY AND COINS WILL BE SOLD AT PUBLIC AUCTION OVER THREE DAYS, FROM MONDAY, APRIL 11, TO WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13, AT ARCHIVES INTERNATIONAL AUCTIONS

 

The auction will be held at Archives International Auctions’ offices in Fort Lee, N.J. Featured will be Part 3 of the Alexander I. Pogrebetsky family archives of rare Chinese and Asian banknotes, and the first offering from the Silicon Valley collection of worldwide banknotes.

FORT LEE, N.J., U.S.A. – Over 1,700 lots of United States, Chinese, Russian and worldwide banknotes, coins, scripophily (stocks and bonds) and security printing ephemera will be sold at a three-day auction, April 11-13, by Archives International Auctions, in the firm’s offices at 1580 Lemoine Avenue (Suite 7) in Fort Lee. Start times all three days will be 10:30 a.m. Eastern time. The sale is available on their website at www.ArchivesInternational.com or as a virtual catalog.

Monday, April 11th, will feature U.S. & worldwide banknotes and scripophily; Tuesday, April 12th, will contain Russian and worldwide banknotes and Chinese scripophily; and Wednesday, April 13th, will focus on Chinese banknotes. Nearly all the Chinese and Russian notes are from longstanding collections assembled over many decades and never previously offered at auction.

“We are privileged to offer additional rarities from the historic Alexander I. Pogrebetsky family archives of Chinese, Asian and Russian banknotes, plus early selections from the Silicon Valley collection of worldwide banknotes put together by an astute collector from 1960-1990 who had a keen eye for quality,” said Dr. Robert Schwartz, President of Archives International Auctions.

For those unable to attend in person, online bidding will be offered on the Archives International Auctions website: www.ArchivesInternational.com . Telephone and absentee (left) bids will also be accepted. The April 11th session (a live catalog sale) will be followed by a 300-lot, live and absentee, internet-only auction, with no printed catalog (though all items will be pictured online).

Session I, on Monday, April 11th, will begin with world banknotes, featuring the Silicon Valley collection of worldwide banknotes. French Colonial notes are highlighted in the collection and will include a French Guiana, 1961, 500 Francs graded Gem Unc. 65; two denominations of the Government of India, 1957 and 1959; and “Persian Gulf Note” issue notes boasting high grade.

Also sold will be an impressive group of 10 early Iraqi banknotes, to include the Government of Iraq, L.1931, 1 Dinar and 10 Dinars note rarities; an Italian Somaliland, 1951 Issue, 5 Somali, P-16 in Choice Unc. 64; a Jordan Currency Board, 1952 Issue, 500 Fils with special serial # B/A 700007; and a group of 19 different early Mexico Banco era proof, specimen and issued notes.

The April 11th session will continue with an extremely attractive and rare Oman Currency Board specimen set of eight denominations in Choice AU to Gem Uncirculated condition and rarely seen in this format; a unique Philippines Islands “Silver Certificate” presentation proof series of 1906, printed by the BEP; and numerous rare and desirable notes from nearly every continent.

Further offerings will include a group of Francis Spinner letters, followed by a large scripophily section of issued and specimen stocks and bonds including automobiles, railroads, foreign shares and bonds, mining, banking and finance, sugar companies and numerous additional topics. Also included will be over 30 lots of security printing ephemera, with many rare and desirable items.

Obsolete United States banknotes promise to be a strong component of the April 11th session. Featured will be two different copper printing plates of early Tennessee and Georgia Scrip notes, circa 1820-1824, engraved by William Kneass, who was appointed Chief Engraver of the United States Mint in 1824. These historic printing plates are certain to attract considerable attention.

Also featured in the U.S. banknote section is a Serial #1, 1907 Panic Currency from the Seattle Clearing House Association; an amazing and unique BEP presentation proof of a Series 1890 Fr#366, U.S. Legal Tender U.S. Treasury note that was from the same presentation book as the Philippine proof offered earlier in the sale; and other desirable lots, thus concluding the session.

Session II, on Tuesday, April 12th, will consist of 534 lots, beginning with 93 lots of worldwide banknotes from Pacific Rim and Asian countries, including Sarawak, Strait Settlements, Japan, Thailand, South Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Macau, Indonesia and other countries. They will be followed by 17 lots of attractive Japanese Yen coins in mostly AU to CU condition.

Also included will be over 100 lots of Chinese Imperial and Republic bonds, including Vickers Loans; 1913 Reorganisation Loans as well as numerous early railroad loans. The second day will ends with over 300 lots of Russian and related banknotes, with many rarities almost never seen at auction. The Alexander I. Pogrebetsky family archives are represented in this portion of the sale.

Highlights will include a Russian, 1923, 5 Rubles, P-178, Transport Certificate specimen; a Mineralnyie Vodyi District, 1919, 100 Rubles; two Vladikavkaz Railroad Co., 1918, 5,000 and 10,000 Rubles notes; examples from the Kazakhstan credits note issue, ND 1918 “Opium Note” series; and four denominations from the 1917 large format series of the Perm City Association.

Also sold will be hundreds of single and multiple banknote lots from the Pogrebetsky archives and the Silicon Valley collection, plus the Pogrebetsky collection of Russian coins, including early 1600s-1700’s wire money in silver and copper and early Russian silver and copper coins; and a large group of Russian private and local issues featuring rarely seen scrip and banknotes.

Additional Russian-related Harbin, China private and local notes will be offered in Session III of the Chinese banknote session on Wednesday, April 13th, which will feature 445 lots of Imperial Chinese, Republic, provincial, foreign, private and local banknotes and scrip notes, with many rarities including examples from the Pogrebetsky family archives and Silicon Valley collection.

Highlights will include eight different Imperial Ch’ing Dynasty banknotes, including a 100,000 Cash, 1858 example, plus three different Board of Revenue banknotes; an 1898 Imperial Bank of China, Shanghai Branch, ½ Tael banknote; and a very rare Chun Yih Sing Bank, ND (1875-1908) “Peking” Branch, $1 issue rarity never before offered by Archives International Auctions.

Also sold will be a Bank of China, 1912, $10 and a 1913, $1 “Canton” Branch issues; a Bank of China, 1914 “Yuan Ahih-Kai” issue proof banknote set, including five different notes ranging from 1 Yuan to 100 Yuan banknotes; a discovery Bank of China 1918 “Tsining / Shangtung” branch issue rarity that was previously unlisted; and other highly collectible notes and rarities.

Ten different pages of banknote photos from Pogrebetsky’s 1929 Chinese banknote reference book that he personally wrote, including some of the pages with the matching plate notes that were previously hinged to the pages from his personal reference book, will be sold, along with numerous group lots that will contain many hidden gems that should be examined carefully.

Additional highlights from Session III includes two different Bank of Territorial Development, 1915, Urga issue banknotes in high grade; 42 different Peoples Bank of China banknotes, with many high grade examples from the 1948 to 1956 issues; a 1907 Deutsch-Asiatsche “Peking” Branch 5 Tael high grade rarity; a Netherlands Trading Society, 1909, $10 issued banknote; and other rare notes.

These will include a $100, Russo-Asiatic Bank, 1917 “Harbin” Branch specimen graded highly, in Gem Uncirculated condition. Provincial banks will be highlighted by a Yokohama Specie Bank 1924 “Tsingtau” branch issue and a Peiyang Tientsin Bank, ND (1910) 3 Taels issue in Choice Uncirculated condition as well as many other desirable and highly collectible notes.

he third session will also include an assortment of private banks and local issues, highlighted by three different Shanghai issued military-related U.S. Marine Corp., 4th Regiment scrip notes, circa 1930-40. The 4th Regiment left Shanghai in 1941 after being based in China since 1927. They went to the Philippines, fought the Japanese, surrendered, and spent three years as POWs.

The catalog for the three-day, April 11th to 13th auction is now online at Archives International Auctions’ website and can be viewed via Archives International Auctions’ live bidding platform, as a virtual catalog, or downloadable as a .pdf. To pre-register for the live auction, or for more information on absentee internet bidding, you may log on to www.ArchivesInternational.com .

Archives International Auctions is always looking for U.S. and worldwide banknotes, coins, stocks, bonds, stamps, postal history, autographs and historic ephemera and documents for future auctions, or to buy outright. To sell or consign one piece or an entire collection, you may call AIA at (201) 944-4800; or you can send them an e-mail to info@archivesinternational.com .

You may also write to Archives International Auctions, at 1580 Lemoine Ave., Suite #7, Fort Lee, NJ 07024 U.S.A. To learn more about Archives International Auctions and the upcoming three-session auction planned for April 11th-13th, please visit www.ArchivesInternational.com .

# # # #

 

 

Lot 499:

U.S. Legal Tender Treasury Note, unique presentation proof, $10 series of 1890.

 

Lot 201:

Philippine Islands silver certificate, $2 series of 1906 unique proof.

 

Lot 62:

French Guiana, 5 new Francs, P-30, Caisse Centrale de la France d’Outre-Mer, 1961 ND provincial issue.

 

Lot 2319:

Peiyang Tientsin Bank, ND (1910) Tael issue.

 

Lot 2258:

Deutsche-Asiatische Bank 1907 5 Taels.

 

Lot 104:

India, Reserve Bank Note of India, Persian Gulf issue, 5 Rupee, P-R2.

 

Lot 2263:

Netherlands Trading Society 1909 issued banknote.

 

Lot 1351:

Vladikavkaz Railroad Company, 1919, 5000 Rubles.

COLLECTING NEVADA MINING STOCKS: 1900-1910

COLLECTING NEVADA MINING STOCKS: 1900-1910

Brent Brown @westernminingstocks.com

Tonopah! Goldfield! Bullfrog! Rawhide! These Nevada mining camps created near hysteria with word of a new strike. Thousands rushed to cash in on each new boom, creating towns or tent cities in a matter of months. “The
discovery of high-grade ore in a new area resulted in a flux of prospectors, promoters (honest and otherwise), newspapers, stores, gambling halls, men looking for work, and the general riff-raff looking for an easy dollar”, according to Hugh Shamburger in “Rawhide”. Saloons and red light districts sprang up overnight. These hard rock miners worked hard and they played hard
too. In a sense, these Nevada boomtowns were the last vestiges of the old West.

Although Nevada is known as the Silver state, it was the gold and silver discovery at Tonopah in 1900 that brought about a resurgence in Nevada.  When Jim Butler discovered the Mizpah Ledge it became famous world-wide. This accidental discovery was no flash in the pan as the Tonopah district produced $146 million of ore between 1900 and 1940, according to the Nevada
State Bureau of Mines.

Goldfield was next with the Sandstorm mine, located in 1903. The camp was such a huge success that in four short years it became Nevada’s largest city with a population of 20,000. The city boasted beautiful homes as well as world class hotels. According to Bessie Beatty in “Who’s Who In Nevada” written in 1907, “During at least three of these four years the attention of the entire world has been focused on this camp. The names of her mines have become common words on the Atlantic and Pacific coast…Everywhere men talk Goldfield. Many who have never seen a mine are familiar with “high grade”. “In Goldfield it
is the only thing that counts.” The mines of Goldfield produced over $86 million by 1940.

 In 1904, gold was found at Bullfrog. Shorty Harris and Ed Cross staked their claim and rushed to Goldfield to have their ore assayed. The first rock broken off by Shorty Harris showed $665 per ton in gold, and other samples reached $3,000 (Lingenfelter, Death Valley and the Amargosa). Miners rushed to Bullfrog from Tonopah and Goldfield.  In 1905, the Montgomery Shoshone Mine was yielding ore as high as $16,000 per ton! Lingenfelter called this mine “the new boss of Bullfrog”.

New mining camps sprang up in the vicinity including Rhyolite, the closest one to the Montgomery Shoshone. The Bullfrog hype then went into overdrive with George Graham Rice’s shrewd promotion. Telephone lines, electricity and railroad service came soon thereafter. With the opening of the Rhyolite Stock Exchange in 1907, seventy-four Bullfrog companies were listed and
traded. But, paraphrasing Lingenfelter, stock certificates, not bullion bars, were the chief product of most Bullfrog mines. The Bullfrog district produced little more than $3 million.

Rawhide, Nevada Street Scene RP Postcard, 1908

 Rawhide, Nevada ghost town pictured in 1908.

On Christmas Day, 1906, Jim Swanson located the Poor Boy claim just north of Grutt Hill at Rawhide. “The life of Rawhide was short, snappy, and complete. In the span of three years, it grew from two tents to a town of 10,000 people, was destroyed by fire, partially rebuilt, and then almost overnight practically deserted (Article by Joe McDonald reprinted in Rawhide by Hugh A. Shamberger). Most Nevada mining camps lasted between a decade and twenty five years, but Rawhide was different. The boom lasted only 3 years. Most of the Rawhide population had no money and at the beginning the town was mostly a tent
city. Many of the workers in town were working without salary with 2,500 fortune seekers digging in the hills around town.

But Rawhide attracted some notables such as Nat C. Goodwin, the comedian-actor who financed the Nat C. Goodwin Brokerage firm, run by the notorious George Graham Rice. In addition, Tex Rickard, owner of the Northern Saloons in Goldfield and in Rawhide, was a famous boxing promoter who had promoted the Gans-Nelson championship fight in Goldfield.

 The town of Rawhide became famous nationwide in September, 1908 when a spectacular fire erupted which nearly destroyed the entire camp. Although there were rebuilding attempts, the fire doomed the town. By January 1909, only 2,000 remained in Rawhide. A year later, it was only 500.

Collectors today can visit many of the old mining camps in Nevada. You can drive through Tonopah and Goldfield on the route from Reno to Las Vegas. There is a terrific mining park in Tonopah that tours the original grounds where Jim Butler made his discovery. A great trip to Death Valley can be made even more memorable with a trip to Rhyolite and the Bullfrog district. Some ruins of the bank building and the train depot are still evident. But a trip to Rawhide doesn’t yield much. A personal visit about ten years ago showed almost nothing to mark the existence of this great mining camp. Scavengers and bottle diggers had left little behind.

The above mining camps all had a colorful history. A certificate collector can focus on one or all of them to put together a great
and varied collection. A fun collecting angle might be to assemble a group of mining certificates from ghost towns.

The Nevada mining boom of this era was very reminiscent of the Internet bubble in 2000. Investors couldn’t get enough of these mining stocks even though most proved to be worthless.  Many of the mining companies were truly “holes in the ground” or
promotional schemes. But there were just enough true successes to make the believers “believe”.

 Pictured below are two examples of Nevada ghost town certificates:


Fairview Galena King Mining Co. Stock, Fairview, NV 1906

Fairview Galena King MC issued in 1906.

 A true ghost town, production in Fairview, Nevada ceased around 1917. Fairview is now closed off to visitors by the U.S. Government.

 
Proskey- Rawhide Mining & Leasing Co. Stock, Rawhide, NV 1908

Proskey- Rawhide Mining & Leasing Co.issued in 1908.

The Rawhide, Nevada boom lasted from 1908-1910. Nothing remains of the town or buildings. Today, there is an open pit gold mine at Rawhide.

Buster Keaton Stock Certificate

Buster Keaton Stock Certificate

By Fred Fuld III at AntiqueStocks.com

Author of the book: Let Me Entertain You with Antique Stock Certificates

Click to enlarge

Founders share signed by Buster Keaton as President!

The above certificate is for Flamingo Films, Inc., issued to and signed as president by Buster Keaton, the famous comedian, actor, director, producer, and screenwriter. The document is dated 1933, with a vignette of a government building. The company was incorporated in Florida.

In 1933, Keaton set up Flamingo as a production company in St. Petersburg, Florida, where he was living at the time. He lived in a Spanish-style five-bedroom house that overlooked Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, due to construction problems, producer and crew issues, and the weather, the studio was dissolved before making any movies.

Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton in Piqua, Kansas in 1895. He was a comedy actor, director, and producer who received an Academy Honorary Award. He was known as “The Great Stone Face” due to his lack of change of expression in movies. He was also known for his porkpie hat, the design of which he created himself. He would go though at least half dozen hats with each film.

Keaton appeared in numerous motion pictures, both silent and sound, and is most known for his acting in The General, The Navigator, and Sherlock, Jr.

Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company

Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company courtesy of Scripophily.com

Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company Stock Certificate signed by Edward A. L. Roberts – RARE (Only 3 known signed by Roberts) Roberts’ “Exploding Torpedo” was the birth of modern-day shale fracking – Issued April 12, 1865 (Day of Robert E. Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox Court House)

 

http://ep.yimg.com/ay/scripophily/roberts-petroleum-torpedo-company-signed-by-edward-a-l-roberts-rare-only-3-known-signed-by-roberts-roberts-exploding-torpedo-was-the-birth-of-modern-day-shale-fracking-issued-april-12-1865-day-of-robert-e-lee-s-surrender-at-appomattox-court-house-7.gif

Certificate from the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company issued in 1865. This historic document has an ornate border around it with vignettes of an oil filed and the torpedo exploding. This item is hand signed by the company’s president, William S. Fogg and secretary, and is over 151 years old. Civil War Tax Stamp attached to face of stock. This RARE certificate was issued to and endorsed on the back by the company founder, Edward A. L. Roberts (There only three known certificate signed by Edward A. L. Roberts ).

Scripophily.com is a name you can TRUST!
Roberts’ signature on back of certificate
Scripophily.com is a name you can TRUST!
Certificate Vignette #1
Scripophily.com is a name you can TRUST!
Certificate Vignette #2
Scripophily.com is a name you can TRUST!
Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Patent –
(Shown for Illustrative Purposes)
 

Edward A. L. Roberts developed the first torpedo and submitted a patent application in November 1864. Roberts, an American Civil War veteran, came up with the concept of using water to “tamp” the resulting explosion, after watching Confederate artillery rounds explode in a canal at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Roberts developed his first torpedoes in 1865 and 1866. In November 1866 he was granted a patent on his torpedo application, and founded the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company. William Reed also developed a torpedo design and went on to found a rival company “for the purpose of infringing and breaking down the Roberts patent. Roberts charged $100-200 per torpedo as well as a royalty amounting to 1⁄15 of the increased oil production. To avoid paying the exorbitant fees, an owner of a well would often hire men who illegally produced their own torpedoes and used them at night—the practice giving rise to term “moonlighting”. Roberts spent $250,000 to protect his patent from the “moonlighters” by hiring the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and filing numerous lawsuits. Roberts’ torpedo patents expired in 1879.


Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company – Background

Prior to the invention of the oil well torpedo, oil wells produced only small quantities of oil for a short time. They had to be redrilled due to the build-up of paraffin and clay deposits. It was not until January 28, 1865 when Col. E.A.L. Roberts successfully discharged his eight pound torpedo, that oil production could be increased significantly. The torpedoes, which were lowered into the drilled wells, were filled with gunpowder, and ignited by a weight dropped along a suspension wire onto percussion caps in the torpedo. In later models, the gunpowder was replaced by nitroglycerin. Oil well production increased over 40 fold as a result of Roberts’ invention. Modern torpedoes are still used today. In February, 1865 E.A.L. Roberts and his brother Walter formed the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company. Roberts was granted a patent that gave his company a virtual monopoly on all types of torpedo used in the oil industry. This patent was vigorously fought by both oil exploration companies and other would-be torpedo producers. In August 1866, the United States Supreme Court confirmed the Roberts’ sole right to the patent. (Source: The Early Days of Petroleum, Theodore B. Robinson, Journal of the International Bond & Share Society, November 1997).


The material below is being used with the permission of AnaLog Services, Inc. and The Otto Cupler Torpedo Co. and was obtained from the website www.logwell.com.

In Northwestern Pennsylvania there flows a stream called Oil Creek. Along the banks of Oil Creek have been written some of the most thrilling and romantic chapters in oil field history. It was near this stream, on August 27, 1859, that Col. Edwin L. Drake completed the first well drilled specifically for oil. And it was there, on January 21, 1865, that Col. E.A.L. Roberts made the first successful oil well shot on the Ladies Well, using 8 pounds of black powder (nitroglycerin was first used 2 years later), ushering in the era of “Oil Well Shooting”, and in no small measure saving the Pennsylvania oil industry.

In 1846, Ascanio (Ascagne) Sobrero, then a pupil of Pelouze, the eminent French chemist, hit upon Nitroglycerin by mixing fuming nitric acid, sulphuric acid, and glycerin in the proper proportions. Ascanio didn’t know it was loaded, for he subsequently blew the lab to splinters, narrowly escaping death himself. Glycerin by itself is a harmless substance, and so it is all the more surprising when under the influence of two acids, it becomes one of the most powerful explosives ever known to man. McLaurin described nitroglycerin as follows: “A flame or a spark would not explode Nitro-Glycerine readily, but the chap who struck it a hard rap might as well avoid trouble among his heirs by having had his will written and a cigar-box ordered to hold such fragments as his weeping relatives could pick from the surrounding district.”

In those early years, nitroglycerin had an adverse effect even upon man’s basic nature, as McLaurin described life in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, “The Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Co. was organized in New York to construct torpedoes and carry on the business extensively. Oil men were rather skeptical as to the advantages of the Roberts method, fearing the missiles would shatter the rock and destroy the wells. The Woodin well, a dry-hole on the Blood farm, received two shots and pumped eighty barrels a day in December of 1866.

During 1867 the demand increased largely and many suits for infringements were entered. Roberts seemed to have the courts on his side and he obtained injunctions against the Reed Torpedo Company and James Dickey for alleged infringements. Justices Strong and McKennan decided against Dickey in 1871. Oil Producers subscribed fifty thousand dollars to break down the Roberts patent and confidently expected a favorable issue. Judge Grier, of Philadelphia, mulcted the Reed Company in heavy damages. Nickerson and Hamar, ingenious, clever fellows, fared similarly. Roberts substituted Nitro-Glycerine for gunpowder in 1867 and established a manufactory of the explosive near Titusville.

The torpedo-war became general, determined, and uncompromising. The Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Co. charged exorbitant prices, two hundred dollars for a medium shot, and an army of “moonlighters”, nervy men who put in torpedoes at night, sprang into existence. The “moonlighters” effected great improvements and first used the “go-devil drop weight” in the Butler, Pennsylvania field in 1876. The Roberts crowd hired a legion of spies to report operators who patronized the nocturnal well-shooters. The country swarmed with these emissaries. You couldn’t spit in the street or near a well after dark without danger of hitting one of the crew. Unexampled litigation followed. About two-thousand prosecutions were threatened, and most of them begun, against producers accused of violating the law by engaging “moonlighters”. The array of counsel was most imposing. It included Bakewell & Christy, of Pittsburgh, and George Harding, of Philadelphia, for the torpedo company. Kellar & Blake, of New York, and General Benjamin F. Butler were retained by a number of defendants. Most of the individual suits were settled, the annoyance of trying them in Pittsburgh, fees of lawyers and enormous costs inducing the operators to make such terms as they could. By this means the coffers of the company were filled to overflowing and the Roberts Brothers rolled up millions of dollars.”

As the litigation continued the devastating accidents began, “Nitroglycerine literally tears its victims into shreds. It is quick as lighting and can’t be dodged. The first fatality from its use in the oil regions befell William Munson, in the summer of 1867 [actually 1868] at Reno. He operated on Cherry Run, owning wells near the famous Reed and Wade. He was one of the earliest producers to use torpedoes and manufactured them under the Reed patent. A small building at the bend of the Allegheny below Reno served as his workshop and storehouse.

For months the new industry went along quietly, its projector prospering as the result of his enterprise. Entering the building one morning in August, he was seen no more. How it occurred none could tell, but a frightful explosion shivered the building, tore a hole in the ground, and annihilated Munson. Houses trembled to their foundations, dishes were thrown from the shelves, windows were shattered, and about Oil City the horrible shock drove people frantically into the streets. Not a trace of Munson’s premises remained, while fragments of flesh and bone strewn over acres of ground too plainly revealed the dreadful fate of the proprietor. The mangled bits were carefully gathered up, put in a small box, and sent to his former home in New York for interment. The tragedy aroused profound sympathy. Mentally, morally, and physically William Munson was a fine specimen of manhood, thoroughly upright and trustworthy. He lived at Franklin and belonged to the Methodist church. His widow and two daughters survived the fond husband and father. Mrs. Munson first moved to California, then returned eastward, and she is now practicing medicine at Toledo, Ohio, the home of her daughters, the younger of whom married Frank Gleason.”

The term “moonlighting” emerged from this struggle. Moonlighters mixed their batches of nitroglycerin in crude equipment by day and by the light of the moon strapped their cans of nitroglycerin over their shoulders and proceeded to their dangerous and illegal task of shooting wells. Anyone who has witnessed an open hole oil well shot can testify as to the tremendous height reached by the resultant water geyser or dust and rock cloud. This sign of a well being shot was watched for by the Pinkerton detectives who were hired by Roberts, and who had fanned out throughout the oil regions. Night would mask shooting activities to a degree, and thus was born the dangerous business of moonlighting. The Roberts patent expired in 1883 and Congress refused to renew it due to all the strife.

In 1884, The Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Co. changed its name to The Otto Cupler Torpedo Co., which company still operates to this day out of Titusville, Pennsylvania.

Below are some newspaper articles rergarding the company:

From The Titusville Morning Herald of June 17, 1866, “Our attention has been called to a series of experiments that have been made in the wells of various localities by Col. Roberts, with his newly patented torpedo. The results have in many cases been astonishing. The torpedo, which is an iron case, containing an amount of powder varying from fifteen to twenty pounds, is lowered into the well, down to the spot, as near as can be ascertained, where it is necessary to explode it. It is then exploded by means of a cap on the torpedo, connected with the top of the shell by a wire. The object of the torpedo is to clean out all the deposits at the bottom of the well such as gravel, pieces of seed-bag, etc., as well as to open the fissures, where the oil comes through. These frequently become perfectly clogged with paraffine, and other matter that effectually prevents the production of oil from the well. It is claimed that the explosion of the torpedo at so great a depth, cannot result in any serious damage to the well.

“A large number of wells have been experimented on, and the most signal success has attended the same. Several wells on the Tarr farm, on Oil creek, have proved the most productive as yet. One of these was increased in production by the use of the torpedo from ten to over one hundred barrels per day.

“Paraffine, one of the parts of petroleum, has a tendency to form in bottoms of all wells, more especially after they have been worked a short time. We have known numerous instances where the conducting pipes have become so clogged with it as to render working the well impossible, until the pipes were taken up and cleaned out. We have seen the paraffine taken these the full size of a two and a half inch pipe, of about the same consistency as lard. It is but reasonable to suppose that this substance accumulates at the bottom of the well or in oil fissures, and in a short time effectually stops them up. Production thus ceases, and the well is abandoned. By keeping these fissures rid of this impediment, it is hard to tell the vast amount of oil that could be brought to the surface that is now lost. We desire to call attention to the startling facts that appear in the testimonials published in our advertising columns by the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company.

“The reliable source whence these certificates came seems to preclude the possibility that the torpedo is a high-blown humbug, besides it would seem to be the most consummate folly to publish statements whose falsity could be so readily exposed, as would be the case with these if they were untrue, and yet it is only the involuntary prompting of human nature, on hearing such remarkable assertions, to ask ‘really, are these things so?’

“If every unsuccessful well owner shall find an affirmative answer to this question, we know somebody who will make a good thing. And if we are correctly informed, the Colonel is deserving of the most perfect success; for notwithstanding the groundless claims of rival contestants, backed by money and talent and brazen impudence, he has carried his invention gloriously through upon its own merits, as is fully shown by the late decision of the Commissioner of Patents.

“If the torpedo shall do one-tenth as much for other territory as it seems to have done for the Tarr Farm, it will prove to be more of a substantial benefit to the oil regions than all other patent implements and machines that have ever been invented. It is worthy of the attention not only of all who are directly interested in the production of petroleum, but of all who desire the prosperity of this oil county to inquire into this matter.”

From The Titusville Morning Herald of July 2, 1866, “A gentleman who has just called on us from Tarr farm, tells us that an experiment was made on the 21st, with one of Roberts’ Torpedoes in the ‘Bakery Well’ which has formerly pumped from 7 to 8 barrels per day. The production has continually increased. On the 27th it produced 60 barrels and yesterday the production was 100 barrels. We wonder how the owners feel at the great difference in their balance sheet! To increase a production 1200 per cent in a week is no small gain. The ‘Hayes well’, Petroleum Centre, was ‘fired Off’ last Saturday the 13th, and it has greatly improved. The exact figures we have not got. The Roberts’ Torpedo must scatter the paraffines or break things generally.”

From The Titusville Morning Herald of February 8, 1867, “This company owns about twelve patents for exploding torpedoes, besides the patents of A. Nobel, for the exclusive right to use nitroglycerine in oil wells, for the purpose of increasing production by any known method of exploding torpedoes, or shells, under water. This effectually prohibits the use of any torpedo unless by a license from the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company. The energy which this Company, with Colonel Roberts as its General Superintendent, has shown in introducing the torpedo for the production of oil, must commend itself to every oil producer in the oil regions. Although at first they met with strong opposition, and no one was willing to permit a torpedo to be used in their wells, still after much solicitation permission was given, and a dry hole was made to produce eighty barrels of oil per day.

“As soon as this was accomplished, a great demand sprung up for the torpedoes. Other parties came in to compete with the Colonel, and every exertion was made by others to prevent his patent from being issued for the application of the torpedo to oil wells, delaying its issue for more than two years. During this time many persons, acting upon the supposition that he would be defeated by the Patent Office, expended large sums to prepare themselves to operate oil well torpedoes. But the final success of Col. Roberts last November and the injoining of several of the infringers have convinced all parties that the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company can and will sustain their patents.”

From The Titusville Morning Herald of June 10, 1868, “A terrible explosion took place in the well No. 25, Tallman Farm, Shamburg. The report was not so loud as that on Church Run, but the effect was equally satisfactory. Another testimony to the value of the Roberts torpedoes. Franklin W. Andrews is the fortunate owner of the well. Go and do likewise.”

From The Titusville Morning Herald of October 28, 1868 “It would be superfluous, at this late day, to speak of the merits of the Roberts Torpedo. From Tidioute to Scrubgrass, for the past three years, it has been a most successful operation, and has increased the production of oil in hundreds upon hundreds of oil wells to an extent which could hardly be overestimated. Next to the discovery of oil, no invention has done more to enrich well owners, than the Roberts Torpedo. Three years ago Col. Roberts finding that nitroglycerine was the most powerful explosive agent that could be employed in torpedoes, turned his attention to the manufacture of this compound, and established a factory near this city, under the direction of one of the most experienced chemists of this country, George Mowbray. But his enterprise was temporarily suspended as the article could be purchased much cheaper in the Eastern market.

“Of late, however, the source of supply has been cut off, owing the danger and insecurity attending its transportation and the Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company have again started a factory for the manufacture of nitroglycerine, upon an extensive scale, at a safe and convenient distance from the city. The best machinery, with all the latest improvements, by which the utmost safety is attained, is employed, and the manufacturing is conducted under the personal superintendency of Col. E.A.L. Roberts. On Friday last the new works were duly tested with the most satisfactory results; over a thousand pounds of acids and glycerine, a portion of which has already, at present writing, been exploded in oil wells. It is the intention of the Company to manufacture nitroglycerine for their own use exclusively, and in such quantities, as their orders may require. Their object is to have the article fresh when handled, thus diminishing the danger to agents and others from explosion.

“The Company deserves great credit for the energy displayed by them in the erection of their extensive Factory, so soon after it had been demonstrated that nitroglycerine could not be shipped with safety by rail. Ten days ago there was not a stick of timber on the ground; now the factory is complete in all its parts and appointments, and of sufficient size to make a thousand pounds of nitroglycerine per day. The Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company believes, from their experience during the past three years, that within the next six months, no oil operator can be persuaded to use anything but nitroglycerine in old wells, and that with the facilities they now enjoy, they will be able to meet the growing demand upon them for nitroglycerine torpedoes in all parts of the oil region. We understand that it is the purpose of Col. Roberts in connection with other gentlemen owning the exclusive right to manufacture and fire nitroglycerine under Nobel’s Patent, to erect during the ensuing winter or early spring, an establishment for the manufacture of the same, on the Lake Shore, at some convenient point for the supplying of the mining districts of Lake Superior with nitroglycerine.”

From The Titusville Morning Herald of September 17, 1870, in an article discussing the completion of the Roberts & Company’s machine works, planing mill, and torpedo shop, a mention is made of a tin torpedo, “The shells are now manufactured of tin, instead of cast iron, the tin cylinder, which was formerly discarded for lack of strength, being now remedied by a stiff wire coil which enables it to resist any pressure.” No records have been found showing details of the construction described above; but, from the description, this is not the tin torpedo design that was soon to take over the industry.

The material above is being used with the permission of AnaLog Services, Inc. and The Otto Cupler Torpedo Co. and was obtained from the website www.logwell.com.

Copyright © 2000 The Otto Cupler Torpedo Co. & AnaLog Services, Inc.

Sports Authority, Inc. – 1995

$250.00 – Sports – Beautifully engraved specimen certificate from the Sports Authority, Inc. printed in 1995. This historic document was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of different athletes form around the would. This item has the printed signatures of the…

Sports Authority – Delaware

$149.95 – Sports – Beautifully engraved certificate from Sports Authority is unissued. This historic document was printed by American Financial Printing Incorporated and has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of company’s logo. This item has printed signatures by the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Secr…