Utah Mining Stock Certificates
Stock certificates are documents that were used to show proof of ownership or investment in a business or corporation.
In this case, a mine or mining company. Without getting to technical, a person or company could purchase shares at a given
price. The value of those shares could then vary greatly, up or down, depending on demand for the stock. (How many people
wanted it.)
Demand could change quickly
depending on the performance of the mine, speculation on what the performance may be, disappointment on what the performance
had been, rumors, whispers, gut feelings, back-room deals, shady promotors, outright swindles, or a hundred other reasons.
Fortunes could be made or lost, sometimes overnight, but that was all just part of the game.
| CENTENNIAL EUREKA MINING CO. #706 - DKW |
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| BLUE BIRD COPPER GOLD #366 - DKW |
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Individuals who were lucky enough to
invest in Utah mining companies such as the Horn Silver Mine at Frisco, the Silver King or Ontario mines at Park City, or
Utah Copper at Bingham Canyon smiled all the way to the bank as they cashed dividend checks on a fairly regular basis. Others,
who invested in certain other properties, would be frustrated again and again, as the mines they had invested in, failed to
make money or pay dividends.
Some
properties made a habit of loosing money on a regular basis. The Board of Directors would charge assessment after assessment
in hopes of keeping the mine going long enough to find paying ore. More often than not, the ore was elusive and the stockholders
would refuse to pay more assessments. Tired of waiting, they would abandon their stock in favor of something better (they
hoped). As you will learn, some people who did that would regret their action later on. Why? Because every once in a while,
that elusive ore would be found. The value
of the stock would rise, and all those assessments would be paid back and then some! It was not a game for the faint
of heart.
The days of the mining stock certificates have
passed. People can still invest in mines and mining companies, but now, it is all tracked electronically. Paper certificates
are almost never issued. As a result, historic certificates have become collectors items. Some with great value, others with
little or no value. The hobby of collecting stock certificates is called Scripophily.
Like the mining companies of old, stock certificates as collectors items
can have a price that varies greatly. It all depends of the stock. How many samples are known? What mine is it for? Who is
it issued to? What person signed the document? Was the mine famous or infamous? Is it fancy or plain? Colored or black &
white? Engraved or block printed? Unusual image or vignette? From the 1920's or the 1870's? If your a collector, how bad do
you want it for your collection? What are you willing to pay? Is it damaged, perfect, or somewhere in-between? All of these
things can affect the value of a given certificate in this new collector's market.
Here, shown in these stock
certificate pages are printing and engraving samples of all kinds, from very simple to elaborate and ornate. These samples,
gleaned from various collections, public and private, are part of the
most complete digital image collection of Utah mining company certificates ever assembled and published to the web.
Forget about the mines they represent, in today's collector's market, the
retail value of the original documents shown here is well in excess of $30,000. From a low of 99 cents, to a high of many
hundreds of dollars, the average is about 33 dollars. Sorry, for now, you'll just have to wonder which is which. Enjoy!
There are now 1715 Utah mining, mining related, land, oil, irrigation, banking, communication
& railroad stock & bond certificate images in this "eMuseum" collection!
Stock certificate pages are arranged alphabetically by company name. Click on the links below or use the pull-down
menu in the navigation bars at the upper left of this page. Enjoy!
