Sunday, May 28, 2017

Kawasaki in the year 2889

We are in the year 2889. By then, all objects in museums are virtualized. People can download a perfect but scaled copy of any thinkable museum object and have it rendered in their living room as a tangible three-dimensional image. The objects that are speaking volumes are the ones the general public like the most. And you? Well, you are an archaeologist specialized in 20th century financial artefacts.

That day you are excavating a chamber at an ancient site which seems to be an office building from the 1960s. Yes, that is funny, back then people used to assemble all day long in a dedicated building to do office work. Anyway, the chamber you are working on, contains a safe weighing about 100 pounds. Your hand-scanner tells you there are documents inside the safe. With your tools, you manage to open it in no time. Wow, the parcel inside contains a set of old stock certificates. In the 20th century, people printed shares on paper for representing ownership in companies. Most of these certificates perished. One of the shares stands out from the others. It is speaking volumes.



With a PhD in Ancient Oriental Languages and Cultures, you translate the long line of characters on top. It is ancient Japanese, and you need to read it in the old way : from right to left. 


'Kabushiki Kaisya', 株式會社 are the first words and mean stock/limited company. A common term on Japanese certificates. You mouth the following word much slower : 'Kawa', , and 'saki', 崎, 'together Kawasaki', 川崎. Aha, that's interesting, halfway now. 
Already from the start you identified the last two symbols, 'Kabuken',  株券, 'share certificate'. Then you speak loudly, 'Zōsen', 造船, 'shipbuilding .. Tokoro, place', 所. 'Wait a minute, together they form Zōsensho, shipyard !',  造船所. You have figured it out : 'Kabushiki Kaisya Kawasaki Zōsensho Kabuken! I found a share in the Kawasaki Shipyard Co. Ltd '. With your hand-scanner you look up the flag printed on the share. Yep, that is the one.



Six months later, a new exhibition of the objects unearthed by you is launched at the Central Museum. The Kawasaki share is one of the highlights. As one of the museum's educators, you are leading a school group around the show. Of course, you spend time on the Kawasaki and explain all about the way business initiatives and innovations were financed 900 years ago. Some of the kids are babbling on anything but the tour, others look a bit bored. One of the kids raises its arm. 'Yes ?'. The group now turns quiet and looks at you first, then at the kid who says, 'If this piece of paper was meant to finance a business, what type of business would that have been?' The other kids are speechless and are now all staring at you.



Happy with the question and all the attention you have, you clarify 'Well, that could be anything you can think of, but in this case, you can see from the vignettes, the little pictures on the certificate, what this company was all about.' Now, for the first time, all the kids turn to the display case and inspect the Kawasaki share. 'They made ships !', shouts one of them and they all look at you again. 'That is correct ! The Kawasaki Shipyard Company was founded in 1896 and already one year later the company completed the Ivomaru, its first ship. If you look carefully, you can see a drawing of the shipyard behind the lettering. At Kawasaki they were very inventive. In 1906 they completed their first submarine. They even made battlecruisers like the Haruna, which was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War I and II !'.

After reducing contrast, the underprint of the Kawasaki share reveals 
an image of a dockyard with ships under construction.
click to enlarge image

'And they also made cars .. and airplanes .. and locomotives !', they tell each other and leave their finger prints all over the display case. The kid that posed the first question, raises its arm again. 'Yes?', you wonder amused, 'What's your name ?'. The whole group answers instead, 'Sidney!'. 'Yes, Sidney, what is it ?'  Again, the group turns quiet and Sidney continues, 'These large vertical signs, they look like a cartouche. Is this from a Pharaoh ?' To everyone's reassurance you can not suppress a smile. 'Sidney, that's is actually a good question. A cartouche, an oval with a horizontal line at one end, encloses a royal name and was used in Ancient Egypt.' The boys and girls look disappointed but turn their heads to the share certificate again when you proceed, 'But, as is the case with this Kawasaki share, a signature of a high official or very important person was often printed in such a vertical way.'

printed signature of Matsukata Kōjirō, president of Kawasaki Shipyard company
'Do you see these five large vertically written characters over here?', and with your light pen you point out the position on the share. 'The first two stand for Matsukata.' , 松方. Some children try to mumble the word. 'The last three are Kōjirō.', 幸次郎 . 'So from top to bottom you read Matsukata Kōjirō.', 松方幸次郎. 'Now repeat all together !' They all chant Matsukato Kōjirō in unison. 

'Matsukata Kōjirō was born in 1865, that's more than a 1,000 years ago, and he was the son of the Prime Minister of Japan. Kōjirō became president of the Kawasaki Shipyard Company in 1896.' 

'Was he rich ?', someone asks. 'Oh yes, his business was very successful for some time. Kōjirō also wanted to give something in return to the people in his country. With the fortune he accumulated, he bought lots of Western European and Japanese art and wanted to build an art museum. Unfortunately he died in 1950 before he could realize his dream. But soon large parts of his collection found a home in Japan's National Museum of Western Art in Ueno and the Tokyo National Museum.'

'I have another question', adds Sidney, 'My dad rides a Kawasaki motorbike, why don't we see a motorbike on the share ?'  Some kids nod, they obviously know Sidney's father. 'Great question Sidney.' The group is proud to have Sidney on board. 'You see, this share was issued in 1921', and you point out the date 大正拾年 on the Kawasaki share. 'In Japan, years were then expressed as the number of years in the reign of the emperor starting with 1. 大正 represents Emperor Taishō, 拾 stands for 10 and 年 is the word for year. Taishō's first year of reign is 1912. So the date we see here is 1912 + 10 -1 which results in 1921. Now, that was easy, isn't it ?'. Everyone in the group tries to convince one another that it was easy. So you continue, 'Kawasaki started producing motorcycles more than 30 years later; therefore we see no motorbike on the share. The first motorbikes were produced by Kawasaki's Aircraft Division. That's why the emblem's on their fuel tanks looked like the Kawasaki flag within a wing.'

Later at home, Sidney tells mom and dad about the museum visit. The child activates the home visualizer and downloads a virtual replica of the Kawasaki share. It rotates slowly in the air when Sidney walks around it. 'Omigosh!'  The floor lamp shines through the image and a large watermark becomes visible.



Reading from right to left the watermark of the Kawasaki share says 
壹拾  株券 : 1x10  share certificates
株式 會社 : Kabushiki Kaisya  = Co., Ltd.
川崎 造船所 Kawasaki Shipyard
In 1969 the Kawasaki Shipyard company merges with its earlier spin-offs, 
Kawasaki Rolling Stock Manufacturing and Kawasaki Aircraft, 
into Kawasaki Heavy Industries.


F.L.

Related links



The Tokyo Motor Show 2013 featured the Kawasaki J Concept motorbike.
Image by Morio [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons



Friday, May 12, 2017

Spink auction includes historic London Underground share certificate

Spink announced details of their upcoming Bonds and Shares of the World sale. The auction will feature nearly 800 lots of world wide scripophily ranging from the 17th century till present. Several memorable items are awaiting a new owner such as this early London Underground stock certificate.

London's "underground" railway opened in 1863. It became the world's first metro system in 1890 when traffic started on its electrified underground line. In 2015 the Underground carried over 1.3 billion passengers serving 270 stations. The system counts over 400 escalators. It's longest continuous tunnel is 27.8 km long (East Finchley to Morden via Bank). Total length 402 km (250 miles).


London Underground share certificate 1912
The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited
certificate for "A" Ordinary shares, issued 1912
printed by Waterlow & Sons Ltd, London
double-click image to enlarge


In 1863 the Metropolitain Railway (MR) opened the world's first underground railway between Paddington and Farringdon Street. The world's first deep level electric railway was opened in 1890 by the City and South London Railway (C&SLR). It ran between Stockwell and King William and became known as the Tube.
The American financier Charles Tyson Yerkes (1837–1905) who also played a major role in developing Chicago's mass-transit systems formed in 1902 the Underground Electric Railway Company of London (UERCL)The UERCL, a holding company for underground lines, became known as the Underground Group.
There was another American banker that also tried to make its entrance into the London Underground field. John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) wanted to build the Piccadilly, City and North East London Railway, a competing subway. But Yerkes was able to prevent that.
Before World War I, except for the MR, mergers had brought all lines, including the C&SLR, under control of the Underground Group. In 1933 the London Passenger Transport Board took control of all the city's ground transport services. That incorporated both the Underground Group and the MR.
In the Second World War tube stations were used as air-raid shelters. The Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft factory with its own railway system. Stations like the Piccadilly line, Holborn - Aldwych branch, were closed to store the treasures of the British Museum. 
The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised in 1948 and became the London Transport Executive.

Details of the auction
  • Dates: 19 May 2017
  • Location : London
  • More info : see here 

F.L.
ps : The International Bond & Share Society has its scripophily bourse scheduled the next day in London. 


Suez Canal bond from 1885 showing map, sphinx and pyramids
Lot 58 in Spink's auction is a 500 Francs bond from the
Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, dated 1885.
Engraved by Stern, Paris, the certificate shows a  bird's-eye view of the Suez Canal.
Click image to enlarge.



Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Archives International Auctions sale features legendary Hammond Organ Company

Deep Purple's Child in Time, Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale, Easy Livin' from Uriah Heep, and The Great Gig In The Sky written by Pink Floyd, all these songs have in common the greatest of all organs: a Hammond.

A specimen stock certificate from the legendary Hammond Organ Company is now to be auctioned in Archives International Auctions' upcoming sale (lot 605). AIA's 41th auction features nearly 1,100 U.S. & worldwide scripophily lots, largely from the American Banknote Company archives. Included as well are historic and security printing ephemera, and banknotes.

stock certificate from the Hammond Organ Company with stamp 'name changed to Hammond Corporation'

The company was organized in 1928 as the Hammond Clock Company by Laurens Hammond. Together with John M Hanert, Hammond invented an electromechanical pipeless organ. They sold it to churches as a lower-cost alternative to a wind-driven pipe organ. By means of an ingenious system of mechanically driven tone weels, electromagnetic pick-ups and drawbar controllers, a Hammond organ could create millions of potential sounds. Soon production rose to several hundreds per month. Automaker Henry Ford was one of Hammond's first customers. The company became the Hammond Instrument Company in 1937. Models equipped with bass pedals and harmonic percussion features were well received in small jazz bands.
In 1953 the company adopted the name Hammond Organ Company. The Hammond organ became even more popular when used with a Leslie speaker, a combined amplifier with rotating loudspeakers. Jazz virtuoso Jimmy Smith used the organ in new ways and became the star on stage like a modern guitar hero. In 1967, after the acquisition of glove manufacturer Wells Lamont, the parent company became the Hammond Corporation, and the Hammond Organ Company became its division. 


The sales' scripophily section features railroad, automobile and aviation certificates. More topics include banking & finance, brewery and alcohol related certificates, mining, utilities, navigation, sports, and state and municipal bonds of several countries.

Submarine Monitor Company of New York stock certificate, 1885
Submarine Monitor Company of New York
100 shares of $10, 1885
lot 626 in the auction


Auction details

  • Date : May 16, 2017
  • Place : Fort Lee, NJ 
  • Further info : see here, virtual catalogue see there and PDF version here 



F.L.