American Express Company

Date

1863

Location

New York

Amount

$1,500

Signatures

  • Alex Holland
  • Henry Wells
  • Lucinda Goff
  • William Fargo

Description

This stock certificate (issue number unknown) represents 3 shares valued at $500 each for the American Express Company. It is signed by Henry Wells and William Fargo, known as pioneering entrepreneurs of the express goods delivery system and founders of The American Express Company and Wells Fargo Bank.

Notable Bond Imagery

At the top center of the certificate, a dog sits circled by 13 stars with the slogan “Safety & Dispatch.” Behind him, a man sits on a horse-drawn carriage in front of a building and two cargo boats in a harbor. At the top left is an Internal Revenue Stamp with a picture of George Washington and to the left. a bald eagle perches on top of the portrait of the dog and American shield borders where the capital stock information is stated.

Certificate with black ink shows intricate borders, lettering, signatures, and a vignette with a bulldog, horse-drawn carriage, harbor, and eagle
Backside shows various legal language including signatures, dates, and a seal
Transcription 
						The American Express Company stock certificate reads:
American Express Company
Capital Stock 6000 Shares | Shares $500 Each
March 19th 1863
No. ___ | for old 3 Shares 
	This Certifies that Miss Lucinda Goff of New York is entitled to Three (3) Shares in the American Express Company, Organized under Articles of Association and Agreement in which it is provided. That the term of Said Company shall be Thirty Years from and after the first day of January 1860. That said Shares shall be transferable on the books of the Company only in person or by Attorney on surrender of this Scrip and the payment of all calls and assessments due thereon. That such transfer may not be objected to by the board of Directors on condition that they shall purchase said Shares for the benefit of the Company. That said Shares are subject to assessment for all losses and damages, or other liabilities incurred in the prosecution of the legitimate business of said Company. That taking an assignment or transfer of said Shares constitutes the Assignee or holder thereof from and after the date of such transfer a Member of said Company, entitled to all the benefits and subject to all the liabilities, thereto appertaining, as fully as signing said Articles would do. 
	In Witness Whereof, The said company has caused this Certificate to be signed by their President and Secretary and countersigned by the Treasurer at the office of the Company. New York, this First day of April 1863
Signed by the Secretary William Fargo
Signed by the President Henry Wells
Countersigned by the Treasurer Alex Holland 

The back of this stock certificate states:
	Know all Men by these Presents, that Lucinda Goff for value received, have bargained, sold, assigned and transferred, and by these presents do bargain, sell, assign and transfer unto ____ 3 Shares of the Capital Stock of the American Express Company, standing in my name on the books of the Company, and do hereby constitute and appoint ___ my true and lawful Attorney, irrevocable for me and in my name and stead, to sell, assign, transfer and set over, all or any part of the said Stock, and for that purpose to make and execute all necessary acts of assignment and transfer, and one or more persons to substitute with like full power, hereby ratifying and confirming all that my said Attorney or his substitute or substitutes shall lawfully do by virtue hereof. 
	In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal the 23rd day of February one thousand eight hundred and sixty four
Sealed and delivered in the presence of Lucinda Goff
Signed by Tho. Sadler 

Near the middle of the paragraph, on the left side are the words “To A. Holland Tres. Price 13/64”

Accession No:

2017.002.007