- 1). Create a spreadsheet of your stock and bond certificates, making a separate page for each company or issuer. Identify the name of the company, nominal value, date and transfer agent. This format helps organize the information you'll collect and share with others about your certificates.
- 2). Search for the companies and issuers in a search engine. Some very old companies may not appear in the search engine. The Securities & Exchange Commission suggests contacting a research company, such as Scripophily.com, that specializes in old stock and bond certificate research. In some cases, old stock and bond certificates of the recent past may be worth more as collectibles than at face value. Many old stock and bond certificates are intricately detailed and colorful. Some collectors enjoy the certificates as art.
- 3). Read SEC-recommended stock and bond research guides to collect details about the certificates. Financial Information, Inc., has provided information about stock and bond issues since 1927. The company also provides research services for individuals with many old stock and bond certificates to research.
USA Today suggests performing research with the "Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable & Worthless Securities." WorldCat(R), a useful tool for identifying libraries with access to the Manual, helps identify a nearby location for your research. - 4). Check the Enoch Pratt Free Library online. The library is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and has many tools useful to those researching old stock and bond certificates. The library provides interesting links, such as Goldsheet Obsolete Securities Page, or the Department of Assessments and Taxation, Maryland Division, for active or defunct companies in Maryland. If your research identifies the state location of a company, try that state's Department of Taxation. The library suggests a number of additional corporate resources, including "The International Directory of Company Histories."
The Library also offers fee-based research services. - 5). Visit the Library of Congress to use its exhaustive resources. The Library includes "Corporate America: A Historical Bibliography" and business references from the late 19th century onward. Reference guides offered include stock and bond directories for active and obsolete securities. Use the Library of Congress Online Catalog to identify those resources of most value.
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