We have several old stock certificates from from 1915, 1970, etc. for
companies that no longer seem to exist, in the names of ancestors. How
could we find out if these certificates are worth anything?

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Request for Question Clarification by tar_heel_v-ga on 31 Dec 2002 10:43 PST

Can you give a bit more detail about the certificates such as
companies, total shares, years, etc?  This will help researchers give
you a more detailed answer.

Regards,

-THV

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Clarification of Question by benjaminclemens-ga on 31 Dec 2002 11:59 PST

The certificates are for "Cabol Enterprises" (10 shares, 1970),
"United States Automitive Corp." (Two shares, 1921), "Northland Rubber
Co." (7 Shares, 1921), "American Medicine Publishing Co." (10 Shares,
1901), "Tropical Products Co." (82 Shares, 1925), "Ephrata & Lebanon
Street Railway Co." (Two share, 1913), "World Film Corporation" (100
shares, 1920), "United States Electrical Power Corporation" (8 shares,
1935), "Welte Mignon Corporation" (Two shares, 1928), "Excello Tire"
(One share, 1921). I know this is too much to look up, but any quick
pointers are appreciated.

benjaminclemens,

Thank you for your very interesting question.  You are correct in that
is alot of companies to research and determine the value of the stock
shares (if any) outside of the collector's market.  However, you may
have inadvertantly stumbled into what has become an incredibly fast
growing hobby market, that of scripophily.  Scripophily is the
collecting of cancelled old stocks and bonds.  You can learn more
about the hobby at http://www.scripophily.com/define.htm

While the companies you have stock certificates for may not be in
business as their original entity, there is the possibility that they
may have been acquired, renamed, or had some other event so that there
may actually be some value to the shares that you are holding.  There
are companies that will research companies for you and determine where
the value in your certificates is, be it as stock or as a collectible.

In doing some preliminary, rough research on the companies you have
listed, here is what I found:

United States Automitive Corp
http://members.aol.com/wwscompany/t.html

Northland Rubber Co
http://www.clintonhollins.org/img/55430.jpg
http://www.clintonhollins.org/trn03.htm
http://www.scripophily.com/oldstocks1.htm

World Film Corporation
http://employees.oxy.edu/jerry/world.htm
http://antiques.goantiques.com/texis,world_film_corporation,3be9cf973c.html

Welte Mignon Corporation
http://mmd.foxtail.com/Archives/Digests/200108/2001.08.09.01.html

I did these by simply searching on the company name.  This may help in
giving you a start in determining the histories of the companies.  As
I said, there are services that are available that will research the
history of the various companies and tell you if the stock has any
value.  Depending on what your intentions are, sell or keep, you may
want to use Google Answers as that resource.  Given the age of the
various companies, you would probably want to list the questions in
the $20-$25 range in order to attract researchers that will provide
top notch answers for you.  If you are interested in other services to
help you research the companies:

http://www.oldcompanyresearch.com/
"OUR SERVICE For a $39.95 fee per company , we will serve as your Old
Stock Detective SM and  will provide you with a brief profile of
companies whose original identities have been lost due to a change in
name, merger, acquisition, dissolution, reorganization, bankruptcy or
charter cancellation.  If it is determined the certificates have no
investment value, we may be interested in buying the certificate as a
collectible."

http://www.antiquestocks.com
http://store.yahoo.com/antiquestocks/cerval.html
$100 per issue

For more information on scripophily:

THE INTERNATIONAL BOND & SHARE SOCIETY
http://www.scripophily.org/

Scripohily
http://www.scripophily.com/

Boone Scripophily
http://www.booneshares.com/

Collectible Stocks and Bonds
http://www.oldstocks.com/

I hope you have found the above information helpful.  Congratulations
on your collectibles and I hope that they turn out to be of value to
you in some way.  If you need any additional clarification, please let
me know.

Regards,

-THV

Search Strategy:
scripophly
old stock certificates
various company names

Yes, a mention of the company names would be most helpful.  You may
also want to visit www.stocksearchintl.com to determine whether you
would be interesting in using their services.

SINCERELY,
4keith-ga

A similar question was asked several months ago. My answer might be of
interest to you:

http://answers.google.com/answers/main?cmd=threadview&id=54157