My uncle has an old stock certificate for 100 shares of "Automated
Referece Corporation."  He purchased these shares at $6 a share on
Aprl 25, 1969.  I'm trying to find out what, if anything, those are
worth today and how to cash them in if they are worth something.

I have not been able to find any references to an "Automated Referece
Corporation," nor an "Automated Reference Corporation," but I can
point you toward some useful information that will help you to learn
more about your uncle's stock certificate and to assess its value.

The Enoch Pratt Free Library has an excellent step-by-step article
called "What to Do with an Old Stock Certificate." Here is an excerpt:

"First, try to determine whether or not the company still exists... 
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."

Enoch Pratt Free Library: What to Do with an Old Stock Certificate
http://www.epfl.net/slrc/bst/OldStockCertificates.html

Here are some of the reference sources mentioned in the article cited
above. These online sites will help you to determine whether the
company still exists:

Big Charts
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com

Over-the-Counter Bulletin Board
http://www.otcbb.com/dynamic

Pink Sheets
http://www.pinksheets.com

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has a page of advice on
the evaluation of old stock certificates:

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: How can I find out if an
old stock certificate has value?
http://www.sec.gov/investor/learn/oldstock.htm

The State of Connecticut's Department of Banking Securities and
Business Investments Division offers some advice that could apply to
any state:

State of Connecticut: Inquiries About Old Stock Certificates
http://www.state.ct.us/dob/pages/oldstock.htm

Scripophily.com is one of the foremost dealers in certificates of
interest to collectors. For a fee, they will research whether your
stock or bond certificate has any value. The company also is a large
buyer and seller of collectable certificates, with a list and images
of more than 4,500 different companies. From their Web site:

"We are always looking to buy financial related documents including
archives, stocks, bonds, banknotes, autographs, specimens, checks,
paper money, and other collectibles of Financial History. Call
1-888-786-2576."

http://www.scripophily.com

Here are links to four other firms that will research your stock
certificates, for a fee:

Paperchase International
http://www.paperchaseintl.com/pc.html

Stock Search International
http://www.stocksearchintl.com

R. M. Smythe
http://www.smytheonline.com/news_resources/content/research.html

Old Stock Research
http://www.oldstockresearch.com/

Search strategy: 

"old" + "stock" + "certificate"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=old+stock+certificates

"value" + "old stock certificate"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=value+%22old+stock+certificate

I hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions about
the answer provided, please feel free to ask.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

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Request for Answer Clarification by ljb-ga on 13 Aug 2002 13:16 PDT

pinkfreud-ga:  not exactly what I was looking for... I appreciate the
instructions, but it doesn't answer the question.   Does your answer
take my question out of contention?   I'm sorry if I don't quite know
how this process works, but I'd like to keep the question active to
see if anyone else (like 4Keith) might be able to answer.

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 13 Aug 2002 14:26 PDT

Dear ljb: 

I am sorry that I was unable to give you an appraisal of your
certificates. Perhaps another researcher will be able to help you.
There are two ways you can reactivate your question: you can reject my
answer as unsatisfactory and request a refund, or you can post a new
question with the same text (plus any additional information that
might be helpful) so that other researchers may answer.

~pinkfreud

---

Request for Answer Clarification by ljb-ga on 13 Aug 2002 16:38 PDT

actually, I have re-thought my position.... I did check the sites you
pointed out and they charge from $50-100 for the information I was
seeking.  That seems to be what the fair market price.  In hindsight
it was probably not appropriate to expect this for $5.

Thus, I now consider your answer to be fair and complete.  To be
honest, this was my first posting (although I've posted another today
as well), and I thought I would throw this one out there for the hell
of it.  Next time I'll think harder on the price I offer to pay.

We are complete.  4Keith, if you are reading this, thanks as well.

---

Clarification of Answer by pinkfreud-ga on 13 Aug 2002 16:43 PDT

You might want to sift through some newsgroup posts on the subject of
old stock certificates. Here's a link that will take you to 7,820 such
posts (whew!)

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=old+stock+certificates&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en

~pinkfreud

thanks for the patience.

8-13-2002

Please mention what city/state your uncle lives in, or possibly what
city/state he thinks Automated might have been located in.  Ask him if
he purchased these shares through a broker or did he buy them himself?

SINCERELY,
4keith-ga

4Keith:  He actually lives outside the US now but lived in NY when he
purchased the shares.  He purchased them from "Security Options
Corporation, 40 Exchange Place, New York 10005", not sure if this
helps, but the stock certificate has "United States Corporation
Company, New York, NY" as the transfer agent.