AMERICAN EXPRESS stock certificate 1898

American Express Company 
Stock Certificate
signed by James Fargo

This is an authentic stock certificate from the American Express Company.  James Fargo (Wells and Fargo fame) hand signs as the president (lower right) --  he drove the establishment of travelers checks after finding it hard to cash letters of credit in Europe in 1881. 

Dated 25 November 1898 July 1895.  Cancel stamp to the left and holes through treasurer signature. Fargo's signature is unblemished!   Wonderful center vignette of a friendly terrier over the motto "Safety & Dispatch" makes this piece special. 

Company overview:
Established in 1850 in New York, American Express Company was among the first and most successful express delivery businesses to arise during the rapid westward expansion of the United States. The U.S. Postal Service at the time was slow, expensive and nonexistent in many areas. The express companies served as a lifeline to the growing nation. Intrepid expressmen, typically on horseback or driving stagecoaches, traversed from the eastern cities to the western frontier, transporting correspondence, parcels, freight, gold and currency, among countless other goods. American Express quickly earned a reputation as the best in the fledgling industry – the company that delivered, literally.  

In 1882, American Express launched the money order business, which proved an almost instant success. The company introduced the world’s first travelers cheque in 1891 and within ten years was selling more than $6 million in cheques annually.  In the course of building the money order and travelers cheque businesses, the company established correspondent banking relationships with a number of European banks that accepted and encashed the products. Although foreign exchange transactions were conducted as early as 1895 by the Paris office, the official initiation of the company’s overseas banking operations took place in 1904, when the Rotterdam office opened in Netherlands and began conducting commercial banking services.

American Express nearly disappeared as an independent company in 1929. Chase National Bank had been quietly buying up shares of the company for several years. Not until Chase completed a tender offer for American Express did it come to light that its prospective buyer already owned 97 percent of the company.  Two unforeseen and unrelated events saved American Express from becoming fully absorbed by Chase. First, the majority of the owners of the remaining 4,702 shares of American Express balked at selling them, either refusing outright or demanding exorbitant prices. Second, in 1933, the U.S. Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited banks from engaging in nonbanking businesses. Chase was left with no choice but to divest the American Express investment it had acquired just a few years earlier.

American Express issued its first charge card in 1958. Within five years, more than 1 million cards were in use at approximately 85,000 establishments within and outside the United States.  In the late 1970s, American Express – like many other large companies of the era – was intent on becoming a global conglomerate, with huge, multifaceted businesses and diversified income streams that could protect the company in the event of hard times in one of its core businesses. During the next several years the company acquired several large acquisitions toward that end, including Shearson Loeb Rhoades, First Data Resources, Trade Development Bank, Lehman Brothers Kuhn Loeb, and Investors Diversified Services (rebranded American Express Financial Advisors in 1995 and spun off as Ameriprise, Inc. in 2005).

This is a real find! Only one available.  Perfect for framing!  Really an outstanding, uncommon collectible stock!

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This is a sample photo only. The certificate for sale has the same color, condition, and vignette.  Differences will be in date, marks, original owner name, serial number, and corporate officers unless otherwise noted.  The quality shipped will be the same or better than pictured.  Refund given if buyer is not satisfied.  Note that we cannot search for a specific date or name due to our large inventory.  Modern certificate pictures often have owner names obscured for privacy. Modern certificates may still be trading in the stock market but no ownership is transferred in this sale - the certificate is sold as a collectible novelty only.  It is likely that the scanned certificate has already been sold but you may ask us to check before bidding.

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All certificates are only sold as collectibles.  No investment value is implied, transferred, or considered.  No transfer of securities is performed. Certificates are cancelled or obsolete.  (Now really, would I sell a $10,000 investment instrument for $10?)  We follow all  rules on selling stock and bond certificates. We also comply with SEC regulations governing certificate sales and licensing requirements (we are not authorized to sell investments or securities under these rules.)

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Are these real?  -  YES!  We only sell authentic stocks and bonds that have been used in actual commerce or from company archives.  They have been cancelled and no longer have investment value but are still the real deal.  We do not sell copies.  Active companies (still trading) are also only sold as collectibles.  These have more recent dates due to the methods by which they were obtained.

Where's the value in these?  -  Since these pieces no longer have investment value, aren't they worthless?  Literally, they are only worth the paper that they are printed on.  The same can be said for baseball cards and stamps but it is really the collectible value that makes these worthless securities desirable.  These are sold as collectibles or novelties only.