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We Take You Inside the National Stock & Bond Show. Rare financial history collectables
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Feb 27, 2025
Last month, we visited the 24th Annual National Stock & Bond Show in Washington, DC to learn about the hobby of Scripophily – the collecting of historical stock and bond certificates, meet dealers and explore their collections. Featuring interviews with: - Chris and George LaBarre of LaBarre Galleries - Tim Welo of the International Bond and Share Society - Fred Fuld of AntiqueStocks.com - Larry Schuffman, Adjunct Professor at the Museum of American Finance - Bob Kiersten from Scripophily.com - Bob & Judy Schell, Conference organizers - Jim Hutzler, Collector - Scott Winslow, Collector & Dealer Ticker History is a proud member of the International Bond and Share Society (IBSS) This video was produced by BullishStudio.com Subscribe to TickerHistory.com, a free, weekly email trusted by 25k investors, history nerds, and collectors! You’ll get curated stories about pivotal moments in finance, deep dive on artifacts you can buy, with insights that shaped markets. 📧 Sign up: https://www.TickerHistory.com 🛍️ Shop Wall Street Collectibles:
View Video Transcript
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the number one I believe sold for a
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million bucks one day they called me
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from the SEC and they said we have 15
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people here in our room and want to
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listen to why you buy stock certificates
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and what you're plan to do this is the
0:11
national uh stock and bond show in
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Washington DC 24 years we've been doing
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it this is the best group of people you
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could possibly work with scoy is the
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name of the Hobby and uh we love stocks
0:22
and bars hi I'm Brian Hanley and welcome
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to Ticker history where we explore
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Financial history through the lens of
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old stock and bond certificates today
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we're in the 19th annual stock and bond
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show the stock and bond show attracts
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dealers from the US and around the world
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join us today as we interview dealers
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take a look at some of their unique
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Collections and learn more about this
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hobby there's something here for
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everyone ranging from just $1 for a
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certificate all the way up to thousands
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of dollars for more rare items we hope
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that you enjoy this journey and if you
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like what you see make sure to like the
0:54
video subscribe to our YouTube channel
0:56
and leave a comment below and let us
0:57
know what you found interesting please
1:00
check out this week in history a free
1:02
email newsletter going out to 25,000
1:04
Finance professionals investors and
1:07
history nerds Al like it's free it's
1:09
weekly so make sure that you click below
1:11
or visit us at ticker history.com And
1:13
subscribe thank you for joining us and
1:15
we hope that you enjoy this video you
1:16
could collect it because they're
1:17
beautiful documents you could collect
1:20
these things because they're
1:21
historically significant you could
1:24
collect them because you're interested
1:26
in the company I have a friend he found
1:28
a certificate that his grandfather
1:31
signed as treasur of some railroad who
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am I here with Tim willo I am the
1:35
chairman of the international bond and
1:37
shares Society the interesting thing
1:38
about this hobby is up and this is a
1:42
great
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example here with this dealer number of
1:46
sept go and they're only $3 each you
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know so you can get in the hobby for not
1:51
much money and you know very interesting
1:55
material or you can spend
1:57
$30,000 right you know if you want a
2:00
Founder shareff for Standard Oil um
2:03
signed by John D you're going to spend
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30 40,000 bucks and this is a George
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labar Chris labar of George labar
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galleries it's always exciting to see
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new things uh that you've never seen
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before right and uh this show is just
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tremendous that way we we must have
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bought 300 pieces here very you know
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running from $2 on up to uh $1,000 y
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this is a a check signed by Alexander
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Hamilton usually he signs a Hamilton and
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it's signed Alexander Hamilton he he
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doesn't usually spell out his his first
2:42
name Alexander but sign by him a quite B
2:45
after yeah especially signed the way it
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it is signed that's a really cool very
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primitive
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1795 file that that's around 19,000 we
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find here what is known as a print of
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one of of the most coveted stock
3:01
certific well it's actually an
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obligation is a copy it it is a a print
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that was in a European magazine that 100
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of these were printed all genuine
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Bonds were signed or initialed by by
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Marcel Dua and is is very very rich in
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history a lot of art history it's it's
3:23
combined between scoley as well as art
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and so one of them went into I think
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it's certificate number one that sold
3:30
for about a million dollars and uh there
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was another one that sold in in sbe's or
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Christies for half a million what keeps
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you motivated the treasure treasure
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troves um you keep looking you keep
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seeing something new I'm sure if I can
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live another 40 years I'll I'll continue
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finding things that are that are really
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you know unique that I've never seen
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before and then then the cool thing is
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there's plenty of other safety deposit
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boxes to be found and to be opened and
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uh cabinets that have a drawer and there
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was a a state trooper from the state of
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New York that that that came to me and
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said I found this in a very early piece
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of furniture and it was a bunch of uh
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1865 Mexican bonds you sound like now
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and I offered grand for for the group uh
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we met at the airport at Syracuse and
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he's like why why are you buying this
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why are you buying this he said well
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it's it's collectible and so I handed
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him a cashier's check and we parted ways
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and he was very happy happy and I was
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very happy and uh they're beautiful just
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just beautiful stuff it's amazing I'm
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Fred fold and how long have you been in
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this industry how'd you get into it uh
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well I've been in it for at least 20
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years that I remember maybe 25 years I
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start out as a stock broker right out of
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college and at the time people would
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come in with certificates and they'd
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want to take a tax loss on worthless
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companies that they had stock
4:57
certificates for so I told our Trader
5:01
who calls in the trades I said if
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anybody comes in you know I'm willing to
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pay a dollar and in order to uh let that
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person have a confirmation showing that
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they have a tax loss and so I ended up
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buying a lot of certificates that way
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were people you know they just said
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interesting certificates but uh they
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were basically worthless but I was able
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to help them out and then I started
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building this collection and then I
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started going to antique stores I
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started going to coin shows and looking
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for stock certificates stamp shows that
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type of thing yeah you want to show us
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some of the stuff that you're most
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interested in that you brought to the
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show today okay um Trump hotels and
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Grand Resorts
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Casino uh and it has the vignette of
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Donald Trump with his hotels and casinos
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in the background it also has his
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machine printed signature at the bottom
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the Bold signature there as chairman I
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notice this one is issued to you so can
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you tell us a story about how you did
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you you invested in the company or what
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what was the Journey of that at the time
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the Trump company was on the verge of
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going bankrupt bankrupt and I thought
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it'd be interesting to have some of
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these certificates so back in the early
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2000s you could actually you know buy
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say 20 or 30 or 50 shares of a company
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uh have certificates issued in your name
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in one share certificate format and and
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so I did that and that's how I ended up
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with uh these certificates my name is
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Larry schuffman I'm out of Pensacola
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Florida I've made a lot of wonderful
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friends over about the past quarter
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Century that I've been involved in this
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and it's been an awful lot of fun think
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of myself as kind of a pseudo Financial
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historian uh I've been privileged to
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have been an Adjunct professor at monore
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State University in New Jersey and also
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an adjunct for the Museum of American
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Finance so what I found is that you
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learn a lot about a country history
7:00
through its body during World War
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I to F to fund the war effort uh the
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United States issued what was called War
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saving stamps and also uh liberty bonds
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there was a series of five liberty bonds
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issued from the time the United States
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went into the war um June I could be
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wrong of 1917 or maybe April of 1917 up
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until you know armis this day in in 1918
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so this is the fourth series uh um the
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interest rates which everybody kind of
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take a look at these were issu in 1918
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so it was a 20-year Bond and it was
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callable after 15 meaning that you know
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if interest rates went down the
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government had the right to take the
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bonds out of circulation the other thing
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that I thought I'd share with your
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listeners viewers Etc again this was
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exchangeable into gold up until the time
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we went off the gold standard in
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1933 so if you think about this this is
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$50 in Gold back then gold was um I
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think $20 an ounce so um it was 22 o of
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gold was what this was now if you turn
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it into value today and that's of gold
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is about
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$2,800 this had about $7,000 of
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purchasing power exclusive of the
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coupons that went with it well this
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coupon rate again was reading upside
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down I think it's 4 and a qu% so that
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means that every 6 months you would get
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um a coupon you would get on a $50 Bond
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so it would pay
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$2.13 a year okay so every six months is
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April and October you would literally
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cut a coupon off this Bond actually had
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five coupons with it when it was issued
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fully you'd cut one off walk into the
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bank and they would pay you you know
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that money and that's what they did um
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really pretty
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vignettes on the back there's some
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others and the vignettes were very
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beautiful and very patriotic it's great
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right so that's kind of the and what's
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an item like this go for now and how do
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you um how do you kind of determine the
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value of something like this well one
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thing is supply and demand this you
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still can actually cash in for $50 plus
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the coupons so it's still good all right
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the thing is though is this is worth in
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this condition around $1,000 my my name
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is Bob Kiren website is scrip.com and
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scrapo is the name of the hobby the
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typical stock certificates has the name
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of the company the DAT it was the datea
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was issued on it the printed signatures
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the older ones are handwritten
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signatures but the newer ones are
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printed signatures or they of the
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president or the officers of the company
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usually a secretary president or or
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chairman of the board um they have the
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number of shares that were issued on the
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certificate they have a serial number on
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the certificate and they have um the
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cusip number for the modern certificates
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and the qip number were you know people
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always say well here's the qip number
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the certificates of what that well all
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the qip number does is identify the
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company or the type of security it
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doesn't identify what happened to the
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company so qip you know people on the
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internet says well you got to find the
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qip number sign if the certificat worth
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anything it's not true you want to find
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the name of the company and contact that
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company if you can directly to see
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whether or not it's still around if it's
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worth anything that's great and then you
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have you know so it has the corporate
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seal like this one was issued in
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1998
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we and then we typically have what two
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signatures on it or three
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sign and you know then it has the fine
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print and on the back side if you want
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to transfer the certificate as awarding
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to transfer to and these were actually
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like uh contracts right for for stock
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yeah but the difference is just because
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you have a stock certificate doesn't
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mean that you still have ownership in
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the company all it was is at the time
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that it was purchased it meant you had
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ownership in the compan but sometimes
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people lose their stock certificates if
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they lost their stock certificates they
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could have had it received a replacement
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certificate so then people find their
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old certificates and they go oh D I
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never cash this in but you can't cash it
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in twice the company is still around
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nice that's cool for new people getting
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into this industry what what advice
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would you give them number one buy
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things that you like you know don't buy
11:13
you know you could buy things as an
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investment but I wouldn't necessarily
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recommend it because you can't predict
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it it's like the stock market you just
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don't know right um but you buy things
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that you like and if you buy things that
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you like that you can enjoy frame on the
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wall and we always tell people to get
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these float frames where there two
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pieces of plexiglass or glass in a frame
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and you put the stock certificate in it
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and then you put it it has a frame
11:37
around it and then you can look at the
11:38
front and the back and if you get tired
11:40
of that certificate you take it off and
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put in you know why spend $200 or $300
11:43
for framing when you get a Flo frame and
11:45
just put it on the wall that's great
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yeah it's all about showing it and
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visualizing it and and enjoying getting
11:50
the enjoyment out of it totally they're
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great gifts uh this is Bob shell and
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this is uh Jun hi the promoters of the
11:56
show we have been for 24 years this is
11:59
the national uh stock and bond show in
12:02
Washington DC yeah it's been 24 years
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we've been doing it amazing yeah how did
12:06
it originate well uh I was trying to
12:09
find a show that was reasonable for the
12:11
dealers uh so we could get more people
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into the Hobby and uh I started out with
12:17
renting a a kind of a broken down
12:20
Ballroom uh down in Alexandria they long
12:23
time ago ripped down that hotel and uh
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we actually uh put up people at our
12:28
house and we Ser because the restaurant
12:30
had been closed out in that hotel we
12:32
actually gave especially the outer
12:34
Towners the ones that came from Germany
12:35
or or Europe you know we would serve
12:38
them Virginia ham at that night and then
12:40
pizzas during lunch you know that type
12:41
of thing so yeah that's how we started
12:43
the show uh so that more people could
12:46
get it and make it reasonable when we
12:48
started out of course we were able to do
12:49
it for like $30 a table well now you
12:51
can't do that anymore when you rent a
12:53
ball you know so so that's how we
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started 20 some 23 years ago there have
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been a lot of great beautiful
12:59
collections that have been donated to
13:01
museums that ended up in the basement
13:02
somewhere you know so um but it's a
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great thing the paper's beautiful the
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vignettes are
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beautiful uh and somebody's probably
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already told you you know the the Rarity
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depends on condition and and numbers
13:15
that are out there has it been seen
13:17
before or is the company meaningful or
13:20
who is it signed by simple as that
13:21
that's great and Judy how has your
13:23
experience been with this uh this
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industry and Bob going down how do you
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feel about it well you know when we
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first started about what are we
13:30
doing but I love these guys this is the
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best group of people I could possibly
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work with and I enjoy it I mean I
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wouldn't come if I didn't right exactly
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are there any uh particular uh
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categories that you're interested in
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personally well of course be being a
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Wisconsin girl anything from Wisconsin
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is always an interest well for both of
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us so I would guess I don't have
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anything in particular but if it's from
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Wisconsin I certainly would take a good
13:56
long look at that's great and what are
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you excited for in the future the show
14:00
we're hopeful that more young people uh
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like yourself uh gain an interest in
14:05
this I think the the great thing about
14:07
it is that the sources is now cut off I
14:10
mean you don't they don't print these
14:11
things anymore it's all electronic as
14:13
you know and so at some point somebody
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going to say wow you know this is what
14:18
really represented this is history you
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know you look at a piece of paper that's
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more than just a piece of paper it's the
14:23
history of a company and the thousands
14:26
of people that work for the company and
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what they produced what impact they had
14:30
on History you know that's that's a lot
14:32
of it it really is so yeah believe it or
14:34
not this is wish rare but you see right
14:37
here this is his family his grandfather
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stuff he's looking at that's his name
14:41
you people seeing their family
14:44
stuff you're hutler so the the business
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was uh my my family the hudler family
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came from Bavaria in uh in the
14:57
1840s and they did you have fun a Jewish
15:01
family and they uh came with uh
15:05
something like $18 in their pocket and
15:08
it was just a classic American story and
15:12
they uh came hutler Brothers company the
15:14
earliest I know is they actually were
15:16
pack Peddlers so they actually had a
15:19
wagon a horse and a wagon and they took
15:22
stuff from Baltimore and they took it
15:24
out to Frederick Maryland area at the
15:28
time the family of six children each one
15:30
of the brothers started actually a
15:32
business on their own one started a
15:34
retail business one started a wholesale
15:36
business and uh and eventually they
15:40
Consolidated in 1858 into what became
15:44
hutler Brothers company just again a
15:46
classic story where the business started
15:48
small and it just kept expanding and it
15:51
eventually became the premier of
15:53
department store in Baltimore one of
15:55
them and the business expanded it it was
15:58
a loan store one location in downtown
16:01
Baltimore until uh 1951 when they opened
16:05
their first uh Suburban store which was
16:08
in talson
16:09
Maryland uh and it eventually uh
16:12
expanded to about seven stores including
16:16
one on the Eastern Shore in Salsbury
16:19
down and uh but uh it was interesting
16:22
the writing certainly was on the on the
16:24
wall by the 1960s uh things were
16:27
changing very quickly
16:30
and uh the the discount retailers were
16:34
coming into being and it was a this
16:37
threat I remember being with my father
16:41
on had visited the West Field store
16:43
walked around got back in his car we
16:45
drove down and he says I need to show
16:47
you something so on the right side of
16:50
the road there was a newly open
16:52
Corvettes if you remember Corvettes and
16:56
he said he drove we drove into the
16:58
parking lot he says I want you to look
16:59
at this he said this is a problem and uh
17:02
he knew back then right after it opened
17:05
that uh Corvettes was uh and the whole
17:08
concept of uh discount self-service
17:11
retailing was a real threat to the G so
17:14
actually not too long thereafter they uh
17:17
put the business on the Block uh and the
17:20
whole business wrapped up in
17:23
1992 W this is one of the types of stock
17:26
certificates there's uh there's some
17:29
other ones well the when the business
17:31
was sold there were 92 family members
17:35
actually who were shareholders in the
17:36
business at that time uh everything
17:38
worked out you know until the era
17:42
changed that's the best way to quit it
17:43
right so today we see U Macy's is still
17:47
existing and although in trouble it's
17:50
the end of an era sadly
17:53
yeah but uh this is a relic of the past
17:56
though right yeah so I'm I'm glad had to
17:59
be able to share this with whoever Scott
18:01
Winslow Scott tell us a little bit about
18:03
your uh your journey here into this
18:05
industry how'd you get started well
18:07
actually I've been I've been doing this
18:09
my entire life in my working life I
18:11
started out actually working with George
18:13
labar when I was a kid um at the age of
18:18
about 14 and throughout call high school
18:21
and college I worked with him so in
18:24
1985 I started working for myself that's
18:28
great and do you do I deal with
18:30
historical stock certificates bonds
18:32
manuscripts autographs currency a lot of
18:36
early American Paper Money things like
18:39
that great and how did you come into a
18:40
lot of this stuff uh well at the
18:42
beginning you start buying from dealers
18:45
uh you start buying from auctions and um
18:48
then you get occasionally the fortune
18:50
and opportunity to buy from an
18:51
institution a big archive or something
18:54
like that which which is always is fun
18:57
when you can make it happen although
18:58
it's not that frequent um and then
19:01
institutions and once you develop a name
19:03
for yourself in the industry you start
19:06
having the opportunities to buy
19:07
collections that already exist they've
19:10
sold hundreds and hundreds of thousands
19:12
of pieces through through the years it's
19:15
been 40 years it's hard to hard to look
19:17
back and say it's been 40 years but it
19:19
has aw and what are some of your
19:21
personal favorites any Industries
19:23
companies
19:24
Styles uh well I I I I particularly like
19:28
a lot of early American types of the
19:31
development of our Capital system from
19:33
the 18th century the late 18th century
19:36
up to up to I'd say 1850 I like early
19:41
vignetted pieces the companies that
19:44
Transportation
19:46
railroads um and I really enjoy
19:50
collecting and dealing with things that
19:52
are signed by the The Men Who Built our
19:54
country John Jacob Aster John de
19:57
Rockefeller
19:59
um yeah can't go on and on but you know
20:01
with a litany and names but that I you
20:03
know the people that that built our
20:05
country yeah so than well I I can only
20:08
encourage you to get out there and learn
20:10
about this stuff the the hobby is a
20:12
fantastic one uh there's a lot of
20:15
opportunities to be on the ground floor
20:17
of certain themes and and you can buy a
20:20
lot of really interesting stuff for a
20:23
reasonable amount of money still that's
20:25
great can you share a little bit about's
20:26
been going on well in terms the show the
20:29
future well i' I've um happily am
20:32
picking up the ball and taking taking it
20:35
forward with with uh trying to operate
20:37
the show uh and continue a life of it
20:40
it's I mean there there's been for 38
20:42
years there's been a a a a national
20:45
stock and bond show in the US from the
20:48
early Inception of Strasburg and then
20:50
Bob and Judy picked that up and with for
20:53
the with the National Stock Bond show to
20:55
continue it on so we've got 38
20:57
continuous years of National stock and
20:59
bond show so the point is to continue
21:01
that you know for the coming years and
21:04
Beyond uh and um that's my goal that's
21:08
great so uh when is the show next year
21:10
it's always at the end of
21:12
January uh to the beginning of February
21:15
so it will still be in that time I don't
21:17
I don't have the exact dates and where
21:19
is it typically it's going to be held
21:20
still still at the same place that it
21:22
has been for the last number of years
21:24
which is the the Crown Plaza dullas in
21:27
hearnden Virginia thanks a lot Scott
21:29
appreciate it yeah are you interested in
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learning more about financial history
21:33
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we explore this week in history through
21:38
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21:41
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21:52
for tuning in and I'm Brian Henley from
21:54
Virginia
21:58
he
22:02
[Music]
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