Name/Title
The Michigan Central Railroad Company - Stock CertificateEntry/Object ID
2024.258.89Description
The Michigan Central Railroad Company - Stock Certificate printed in brown ink. Certificate was issued and was cancelled in 1904. No. 565. $5,000 Brown 5% Bond printed by American Bank Note Co., New York. Elaborate triple vignette of man with sheep, locomotive in station, and a female figure. Printed on cream paper with a brown patterned Greek key border.
This particular stock certificate is signed by Cornelius Vanderbuilt II, favorite grandson of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, the original railroad tycoon.
Also signed by two other railroad company and banking officials at bottom. The certificate granted “The Clerk of the Circuit Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Michigan transferable only by order of said court" a guaranteed return on his $5,000 principal investment originally authorized. The clerk or his assigns would receive a quarterly dividend of 5%. The vignette at the top depicts a railroad engine flanked by allegorical figures representing Agriculture. Embossed seal at lower left. With stamped cancellation marks. The reverse is blank. Cancellation punches, and stamps, through all three signatures. Punches through the "V" and "r" of Vanderbilt's signature.
