Bob’s collection includes Campbell’s & Ford stock.
Bob Meihaus’s stock certificates tell his story: places he’s worked and companies he cares about. In addition to those featured on his office wall, Bob has over 150 certificates carefully arranged in plastic-protected collector binders. Some are colorful, some are rare, some are nostalgic, and some are “just plain Americana.”
At only 15-years-old, Bob scraped together savings and purchased five shares in Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company. Though he was first drawn to shares as investments, he’s always valued the concreteness of a tangible certificate. There was a time he didn’t “even know what it meant to have my ownership recorded in ‘book entry’ form”. Nowadays, the policy of issuing global certificates to brokers instead of directly to shareholders has become the norm. Bob has turned to OneShare as a final source for the paper certificates he loves.
As Bob’s collection grew, he began to appreciate the certificates’ beauty as collectibles. “I have companies that are still in business and their certificates are [already] worth more as a collectible than as a security,” he says. “I think this will likely become a trend, as stock certificates become more and more scarce.”
And scarce they are becoming. Bob, for one, doesn’t want to see them go. “I, along with many Americans, love our stock certificates!” he says. “It’s the same as trying to get rid of paper money, and we can’t do that!”
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Tags: book-entry, collectibles, customer, stock certificates
A unique collection. I never realized the artfulness of stock certificates. With stock prices at a low in this economy, this could become a new trend.
Thanks Bob for replying to me. I will check into those binders. I forgot to mention yesterday that I too was receiving so much paper related to the stock certificates. To stop a lot of it, most of the companies will send you info by e-mail for viewing rather than paper documents. You just have to write or call the holders (Computershare, BNY Mellon, etc.). Also some companies will direct deposit your dividends so you don’t have to get the small amount dividend checks. I own a few that do this for me. Just thought I’d let you know. I also have a share of RMS Titanic.
Reply to Astrid:
I appreciate your comments. I am gradually converting from paper documents to email, but typically there is a time delay for this to occur. I had thought about enrolling in direct deposit and / or dividend reinvestment programs, but think this too, could be time consuming. Both methods have there pros and cons. There are several companies I own that pay a penny per quarter dividend. At the current rate it could be a decade, or longer, before I have accumulated an additional share. What do you consider to be your “prized” certificate? Rated high on my list are those companies no longer in business. They include: Atari, Circuit City Stores, Compaq Computer, Kmart (before its merger with Sears), Merrill Lynch (before being acquired by BAC) and XM Satellite Radio (before its merger with Sirius). And, let us not forget RMS Titanic, Inc that is now Premier Exhibitions.
Reply to Laurie:
I have been trying to get an estimate value on your stock certificate with Standard Oil of California. I did discover that Standard Oil of New York is valued at roughly $100 for the piece of paper alone (not counting the value of the stock). However, so much depends on when the certificate was issued, who signed it and other variables. I’ll keep looking. In the meantime, I would suggest getting that “gem” out of the envelope and framing it. It’s a keeper for sure!!!
What a interesting article! Didn’t know you actually framed stock certificates. I think that stock certificates and savings bonds are wonderful gift ideas. And I also, as someone else posted, would love to have you for my stock broker. Did you ever think getting into that? Looks like you already have two customers!
Hello Bob,
Further to my last blog entry, Is the engravers name or initials shown anywhere on the engraving? It would be interesting to collect a particular engravers work if he identified himself on the certificate.
Al P
Reply to Patty,
I have been asked numerous times over the years about managing a financial portfolio from many individuals. Actually, you have to be licensed to do such a thing, which I am not. In any event, I don’t mind losing my own money, but would be feel horrible if I lost any for someone else. It’s a no win situation. Thanks for the confidence in me.
Reply to Allan Haskell,
Interesting question! To the best of my knowledge, the engraver’s name and / or the engraver’s initials are not shown anywhere on the stock certificate. I looked at several to be sure. I have heard of collecting certificates by industy, states, price range, dates of incorporation, etc. I know of someone who collects nothing but pharmaceutical stocks. I am unaware of anyone who collects by engraver, although I would imagine it would be like collecting works of art by a specific artist. You might be on to something.
[...] Bob, you may have noticed a delay between posting comments and seeing them live. This gives the [...]
enjoy your collections endeavour
Hi Bob,what is your oldest stock?
I work in IT and all I can say is that I would want to keep the certificate for my own backup. Good luck Bob – hopefully the stock certificate will live on.
Reply to Marcela,
Thanks for the clarification regarding the mechanics of the blog. I hope this will address the questions I have received through family and friends about timing of their remarks.
Shout out to those who collect stock certificates! …According to Fritz Henderson, CEO of General Motors, bankruptcy is becoming more probable day-by-day. The next couple of weeks could be your last opportunity to pick-up a share of General Motors through OneShare. I have mine! Do you have yours?
Reply to Vivian:
My oldest stock certificate was Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company, which was purchased in the 1960’s. Unfortunately, I surrendered the paper certificate when the company mergered years ago with PSI and the new name of the company became Cinergy. A later second was in Comair (prior to it be acquired by Delta Airlines). This I purchased in the late 80’s. I still have the stock certificate. Good question!
Bob , It was nice to read your article. I am from India and I too have the hobby of collecting one share certificate since more than 15 years. I have a good collection by now but still hungry to collect more. I have the certificates of companies of all alphabets except Q,X,& Y.
Reply to Rajesh Jain:
Until you mentioned it, it never occured to me if I had a share of every company in the alphabet. I am missing only the letter ‘Z’. Some suggestions for stocks beginning with the letter ‘Q’ are: Quest Communications, Quality Distribution & Quicksilver. I would recommend Xerox for a stock beginning with the letter ‘X’. As to the letter ‘Y’, how about Yahoo or Yum! Brands? I am going to try to get a share of Zale Corp, a jeweler for my ‘Z’ stock and to complete the alphabet. Good hearing from you.
As the gentleman before…Do you have all the shares in the alphabet?
Thanks Bob for your reply.But as i told you i am from India and all the one share i hold are from Indian stock market.thanks for recommending me the stock from alphabet Q, X & Y, but they are all from USA stock market.I know that i can buy these shares from this site,but i have to learn the procedure to buy it online.
Nice website.. Hope to come back again soon=)
Reply to Roger:
I have “paper” stock certificates in every company in the alphabet but the letter “Z”. I never even gave it a thought until the subject was brought up by Rajesh. I am going to try to buy Zales and that will complete the alphabet for me.
Reply to Rajesh:
Sorry, I am unable to help you with stocks on the India exchange. It appears we are starting to get a nice following from India.
BOB
For my birthday my wife gave me a framed and engraved certificate of KDI. See my earlier blog. IT WAS THE PERFECT GIFT. Thanks for the idea.
Dear Bob,
I talked to my very good friend in USA & told him about the oneshare. He knows about my hobby of collecting one share certificates in India. You will be surprised he is going to gift me one share from USA. As per your advise he is gifting Xerox(X-alphabet) and Yahoo (Y-alphabet.
I really liked this post. Can I copy it to my site? Thank you in advance.
Andrew: Thanks for your comment! Feel free to post the article, just make sure you credit us and link to our blog! Cheers.
Reply to Andrew:
Since the article was written about me, I am highly complimented. I too, would like to know the address of your site. Thanks.
Marcela:
I have had several friends to say that they would comment on the article you wrote about me, but they were having a difficult time locating it. Is there an easier way to reference it? It is no longer listed in the right tabs because of more recently dated articles. Thanks.
Hi again Bob! The easiest way to direct friends to this article is to send them its unique URL:
http://blog.oneshare.com/2009/04/24/meet-bob-meihaus/
You can find the URL for any article on our blog by clicking on that article’s title — which then directs you to a page dedicated solely to that article. Cheers!
Reply to Bob:
I haven’t been online in awhile and just saw your reply. Thanks. It’s hard for me to select a prized certificate because I carefully select the shares of stock I purchase. I narrow down my purchases of shares through One Share because I only purchase shares that do not require a plaque or frame as I do not hang the shares. I also either purchase shares that visually appeal to me (e.g. colorful certificates such as Disney) or companies that I currently do business with or purchase products from (e.g. Coca Cola) I do like the Exxon-Mobil stock (visually appealing). I also have stocks certificates of Kmart, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Viacom.
Reply to Astrid,
I hear what you are saying. With over 170 stock certificates and counting, the great majority obviously, are not framed or have an attached plaque. Your collection sounds very nice.
A thoughtful insight and ideas I will use on my blog. You’ve obviously spent some time on this. Well done!
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RE: RSS feeds: Most RSS feeds let you add the URL for a particular blog directly to the list of subscriptions, making subsequent entries show-up in the reader automatically. If you’re still having trouble, I suggest searching your feed’s help center or contacting the maker directly as all feeds are a little different. Good luck!