Newsletter available

At long last, I mailed out the newest newsletter. You may now download the latest April, 2008 newsletter. In this issue, I talk about the myth that rare items are always expensive. I will continue this disussion in the next newsletter.

I also discuss the related subject of price disparities. Scarce items can be cheap. Common items can be expensive. Prices can swing wildly from sale to sale and from country to country. You need to be able to use price disparities to your benefit.

At this moment, the database holds 17,401 distinct varieties of certificates.

Third ABN sale catalog available

Robert Schwartz (Archives International) tells me the newest catalog is now available from H.R. Harmer, Inc. This is another massive sale catalog selling off still more from the huge, huge American Bank Note Company archives. This sale will take place June 2, 3 and 4, 2008 in Bethel, CT.

Sale catalogs are available for $30, plus $5 for postage from H.R. Harmer. Request sale #2985. There are a LARGE number of railroad specimens and proofs for sale as well as U.S. and world banknotes. This is a terrific opportunity to pick up one-of-a-kind items you may never see again. Don't miss getting this catalog. And definitely, don't miss this sale.

Electric companies out of database

Today, I removed 32 electric companies from the database that did not have a rail-related keyword as part of their names. Yes, yes, yes, I know. Many electric companies from around 1900 to the mid-1940s operated street railways and interurbans. I would guess the total number probably amounted to 150 to 200 companies. I previously had these 32 companies in the database because they had reported their street rail operations to the ICC at some time. However, I saw no compelling reason to keep these companies in the database IF railroading was not sufficiently important to include as part of their corporate names.

Misleading company names

I just added a new page of several hundred deceptive names. These are names that sound like railroad companies, but aren't. This list includes shipping companies, bus companies, miniature railroads, model railroad clubs, and many other kinds of legitimate companies unrelated to railroading. As always, I solicit help adding to this list.

Trading room

Haight & Freese's trading room in New York. Three clerks work at the quotation board in the front of the room. This image appeared in several editions of Haight & Freese's Guide to Investors in the late 1890s and early 1900s.

Scripophily, December issue out

The latest issue of Scripophily, the journal of the International Bond & Share Society, just came out. In this issue, "Cox's Corner" talks about the groundless complaint that there are no "new" certificates to be found. Yeah right!

Articles this issue include:

• Altoona Mechanics' Library by Scott Troutman
• Rothschild and the Chemin de Fer du Nord by Dieter M. Seyfarth
• Samuel Pandolfo and the Saga of the Pan Motor Company by Richard T. Gregg
• Nice Jetty Casino by Howard Shakespeare
• Liberty Loan Bonds by Lawrence D. Schuffman
  
  Please help the hobby grow by joining the IBSS.

Specimens and proofs

In response to continuing questions about the subject, I've added a new page to explain More than you EVER wanted to know about Specimens and Proofs.