Boone auction 64, April 4-5, 2020

Like sales elsewhere, Mario Boone's next auction will take place entirely online due to the global coronavirus epidemic. See current auction rules online at Booneshares.com and be sure to register early.

Unlike many of Mario's sales the last few years, the number of North American railroad certificates in sale 64 is somewhat abbreviated, numbering only 18 lots out of 1,653. Nonetheless there are several intriguing certificates.

None of us have a crystal ball to predict how the global coronavirus outbreak will affect participation and prices. My opinion is worth only as much as the next person, which means not much.

I can say one thing for sure, however. Like so many Boone sales before, there are a few items in this sale that are genuinely rare or very scarce. I will not quibble about definitions, but will say with certainty that some of these certificates will not be seen again in the next ten years. Maybe longer. If collectors desire any of these certificates and refuse to bid out of fear of buying in Europe, they better not come crying to me.

Nuff said!

Lot 1570 is a familiar certificate from The Chesapeake Ohio & Southwestern Railroad Co, but this certificate is signed by Collis P. Huntington as president. This lot has a very reasonable start price compared to American sales.

If someone is a fan of the AT&SF, I advise they look at the 1888 certificate of the Rio Grande Mexico & Pacific Railroad Co. issued in the New Mexico Territory (lot 1575.) This certificate was for 69,360 shares issued to the AT&SF and signed by AT&SF president William Barston Strong.

Another rarity can be found in lot 1578, representing an 1891 guaranteed stock certificate from the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac Rail Road Co. Mario is offering a low start price on this lot also, even though I have recorded only one other similar certificate in thirty years. Call it anything you want; I'll call it rare.

Lot 1579 is an 1880 $1,000 bond from the Missouri Pacific Railway and features a vignette of its main 4-story terminal building engraved by Homer Lee Bank Note Co. This item is an unnumbered specimen and I suspect was last offered in an R.M. Smythe sale in 2001. While it is impossible to know for certain, I suspect this is one of only two, possibly three, bonds of this design and all are specimens.

The oldest certificate in this Boone sale is an 1832 stock from The New Castle & French Town Turnpike & Rail Road Company (lot 1581.) I have recorded only six similar certificates.

Lot 1584 is the same certificate that last sold in 2012 for $2,277. It is an 1864 Staten Island Rail Road stock certificate signed by Jacob Vanderbilt, both as stock holder and president.

For collectors of rapid transit companies, I recommend Inter-State Rapid Transit Railway Company (Consolidated.) This 1886 certificate is is a $1,000 bond and most observers would instantly confuse this bond with a nearly identical certificate from the Inter-State Consolidated Rapid Transit Railway Co. Notice the slightly different name? I barely did. This is a new-to-me company.

Most certificates in the sale are illustrated in the full-color physical catalog and all certificates are viewable online at Booneshares.com/. Again, be sure to register before the sale date (April 4-5, 2020.)