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What to Do with an Old Stock Certificate

Do you have an old stock certificate and wonder if it's worth anything? The Business, Science, and Technology Department (BST) can help. We have many sources that can aid in your search, and we can also point you to other organizations that have useful information. The following is a description of the methods and sources we use in BST and some places to go to when the books don't have the answer.

• Getting Started 
• Company Histories 
• Corporate Records 
• What is Scripophily? 
• Fee-Based Services 
• Ask Us  

Getting Started 

Okay, so you have this stock certificate in your hands. Now what do you do? First, try to determine whether or not the company still exists.

Does the company still exist? 

• You can do a quick check on free Web-based stock market quote services, such as
  • Big Charts, which allows you to look up companies by name or ticker symbol.
  • Over the Counter Bulletin Board (OTCBB), which quotes of over-the-counter stocks not generally found on major stock indexes such as NASDAQ.
  • Pink Sheets, which were developed by the National Quotation Bureau to provide information on over-the-counter stocks.
• Often times companies are bought out by or merged with other companies, and their names change. If this happens, a stock certificate may be worth something as a security.

What if the company no longer exists? 

• If this happens, chances are that the certificate has no value as a security. There is a chance, however, that the certificate is worth something as a collectible. The hobby of collecting old stock and bond certificates is called scripophily.

At BST, we have print and online sources that will help you find out if a company still exists, in what form, and if its stock still has value.

Company Histories 

BST holds a number of sources that report corporate financial events, obsolete securities, or company histories:

• Capital Changes Reporter. Chicago: CCH Incorporated. Presents a record of changes in the corporate capital structure of individual public companies, including mergers, dividends, and liquidations. We subscribe to the Web-based version of this 7 0+-year-old service, and our librarians can perform searches for you.
• Directory of Corporate Affiliations. "Who Owns Whom." New Providence, NJ: National Register Publishing, annual. Lists subsidiaries and divisions, some of which were once freestanding companies merged into larger entities. XHG4057.A3 (BST owns the volumes that cover 1970–date.)
• Directory of Obsolete Securities. Jersey City, NJ: Financial Information Inc., annual. Contains brief profiles of companies whose original identities have been lost for a number of reasons, including name change, merger, bankruptcy, or charter cancellation. XHG4961.D56Q (BST owns the volumes that cover 1977–date.)
• Fisher Manuals. R. M. Smythe. Compiles the results of several decades of research on old stock certificates. The entry for each company includes the date upon which its stock was deemed worthless. This 15-volume set has been published under several titles, volumes 1 to 4 as the Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct or Obsolete Companies, volume 5 as the Robert D. Fisher Manual of Ext inct or Obsolete Companies, and volumes 6 to 15 as the Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable and Worthless Securities. XHG4055.R6 (BST owns the volumes that cover 1926– 1983.)
• International Directory of Company Histories. Chicago: St. James Press, 1988–. Presents detailed essays on the historical development of more than 3,000 of the world's largest companies. Approximately three new volumes are published each year.XHD2721.I68
• MERGENT/Moody's Manuals. New York: MERGENT FIS, annual. Provide comprehensive financial and narrative information on public companies traded on the three U.S. stock exchanges. Each entry gives an "annual report" of each company, including a capsule histor y, subsidiaries, and consolidated financial data. XHG49613.M67 (BST owns the volumes that cover 1900–date.)
• Register of Defunct and Other Companies Removed from the Stock Exchange Official Year Book. London: Thomas Skinner & Co., 1956. Contains brief profiles of British companies that became obsolete in the first half of the 20th century. XHG5431.R44q1956 
• Smythe Manuals. New York: R. M. Smythe. A precursor to the Fisher Manuals, these books describe companies that became obsolete in the early part of the 20th century. They have been published under the titles Obsolete American Securities and Corporations (1904), Valuable Extinct Securities (1929), and Smythe's Valuable Extinct Securities Guide (1931). XHG4927.S6 
• Standard and Poor's Manual of Railroads. New York: Standard and Poor's. Provides financial and historical information on U.S. railroad companies. XHG4971.P6 (BST owns the volumes that cover 1870–1940.)
• Also, it’s a good idea to check business, city, and phone directories and periodical indexes, both current ones and those covering the time when the company was active.

If you discover that a company has merged into or been acquired by a company that currently exists, contact the successor company's investor relations or shareholder services department about redeeming the stock.

Corporate Records 

What if the above sources don't help? You may not be out of luck yet. Corporations are created under state law to protect business owners from personal liability when conducting business. Certain records are kept by the state under whose law s the company was incorporated. Be aware that the state of incorporation and the state in which the company is located may not be the same.

• For Maryland corporations, call the office of the Department of Assessments and Taxation, Corporation Division in Baltimore at (410) 767-1340.
• Goldsheet's U.S. State Resources on the Goldsheet Obsolete Securities Page provides links and phone numbers to other U.S. state (and Canadian provincial) agencies that handle corporate records.
• Another source that lists contact information for other states' corporate records offices is Find Public Records Fast: The Complete State, County, & Courthouse Locator. Tempe, AZ: Facts on Demand Press, 2000. XJK468.P76F55 2000Q.

Many states will answer queries about corporate status by phone without charge, although some have adopted 900 numbers, charge fees for research, or require a written request. Sometimes the records will show a change of name, a date of dissoluti on, or even that the company still exists.

When calling state agencies for corporate status, make sure to specify the dates covered by the search—sometimes records for inactive companies are separated from those for active ones and will be searched only upon request, sometimes written.

The lack of a record doesn't mean that the company no longer exists. It may have abandoned its charter in one state and reincorporated in another. Records are not cross-referenced among different states, therefore the original state of incorpora tion may not be able to tell you if a company has relocated.

The presence of a stock certificate means that a company has incorporated, but it does not necessarily mean that much or any information will be readily available or that a company is public.

• Private or closely held companies do not sell their stock to the public.
• Unlisted companies can sell their stock to the public but are not listed on stock exchanges.
• Most company information that is published covers the small number of companies whose stock is traded on one of the major stock exchanges.
• Details about unlisted and private companies are often hard to find.

What is Scripophily? 

The hobby of collecting old stock and bond certificates is called scripophily (pronounced scri-POPH-i-ly). Some stock certificates that are worthless as securities may have value as collectibles:

• Because of the people who signed them or owned them.
• Because of an interest in history.
• Because of the design or quality of the engraving.

For more information about the hobby of scripophily, there are a number of books such as

• The Art of the Market: Two Centuries of American Business as Seen Through Its Stock Certificates. Bob Tamarkin and Les Krantz. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1999. XHG4633.T36 1999Q
• Scripophily: The Art of Finance. Keith Hollender. New York: Museum of American Financial History, 1994. XHG4633.H643 1994Q
• Scripophily: Collecting Bonds and Share Certificates. Keith Hollender. New York: Facts on File, 1983. HG4633.H64Q 1983

You can find collectors and dealers in such sources as:

• Maloney's Antiques & Collectibles Resource Directory, 4th ed. David J. Maloney, Jr. Dubuque, IA: Antique Trader Books, 1997. XNK1127 .M36Q (Located in our Fine Arts and Music Department)
• Goldsheet's Scripophily Dealers and Organizations on the Goldsheet Obsolete Securities Page. A personal page with citations and links to publications, state and Canadian province corporate records registries, collectors, dealers, and organizations. Some have posted catalogs online.

Price guides for collectible stocks are listed in library catalogs under the heading STOCK CERTIFICATES, and they are often included in price guides for all kinds of paper collectibles, under the subject heading PRINTED EPHEMERA; see especially the sub heading —COLLECTORS AND COLLECTING. Also try the keywords "paper collectibles." Like any price guides, these report past sales—contact an expert or dealer for an idea of the current market and coming trends.

Fee-Based Services 

If you can't determine what happened to a company using the sources discussed above, you may choose to have the stock of incorporated companies searched by a company that specializes in that kind of research. For names and addresses of stock search firms, see Maloney's Antiques & Collectibles Resource Directory or the Goldsheet Obsolete Securities Page mentioned above.

You may be interested to know that stock search firms charge upwards of $75 per company to search many of the same sources located in BST. However, these companies can search records in other places not accessible to BST, such as bankruptcy courts and state unclaimed property offices, and some have the benefit of their own records compiled over many years.

Ask Us 

If you have a stock certificate that you would like to have us search, please e-mail us the name of the company, the date of the certificate, and the state of incorporation, or send a copy of the certificate to:

Business, Science, and Technology Department
Enoch Pratt Free Library
Central Library/State Library Resource Center
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201