Came across this original and really cool vintage watch stock certificate from Excelsior Watch Company, dated from 1885 (as you'll see in the lower right hand corner). Click the photo to enlarge it and note the wonderful watch assembly graphic in the top center of the certificate - not to mention the handwritten signatures in fountain pen that have withstood the passage of more than 130 years! The certificate, which now hangs on my office wall, got me wondering (a) what information anyone can share on the history of Excelsior (same as Excelsior Park watch movements...?), since there doesn't seem to be much information online, and (b) if anyone else out there has old stock certificates or similar documents from existing or defunct watch companies in the US or elsewhere... If you got 'em, show em! PS - if anyone other than a member of the Stern family can produce a certificate for Patek Philippe, I'll be most impressed....!
Really cool. But would the president of a company really issue himself an undated stock certificate? And on this indeterminate date in 1885 a "corporate seal" was affixed with a date 2 years earlier?
Happened all the time with small, private companies. Still does. The year on the corporate seal would represent the year the company was founded. This was obviously not an IPO. gatorcpa