1919. Illinois. Stock certificate for 50 shares. Black on light green background with green seal. Scarce. Pen cancelled. Very fine.

1978, New York. $1,000 bond bearing 4 3/4%. Light green and black. Engraved vignette of a female figure holding a globe at top. A nice certificate from one of America's most recognizable brand names. Lightly punch cancelled and very fine.

1865, Venango County, Pennsylvania. Stock certificate for 500 shares. Black with Lovely large Green Vignette of an oilfield at center, another vignette of an oil derrick and storage tanks at left. Litho. Printed by J. Haehnlen, Phila. Attached adhesive revenue. Small contemporaneous ink spot above vignette. Uncancelled and Very Fine.

1884, New Jersey. Stock certificate for 25 shares. Black. Large steam locomotive vignette. Litho. Operating from Rahway to Perth Amboy the company operated 6 miles of track and was leased to the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal CompanyThe red numbering of the certificate has been washed out. Some light stub glue discoloration at left. . Punch cancelled.

1---, California. Unissued stock certificate. Black / White. Vignette of an eagle perched atop a rock with a locomotive and steamships in background at top center and a vignette of an oil well at lower left within an orange seal.

1900, California. Stock certificate signed as president by EDWARD L. DOHENY (1856-1935) American oil tycoon who served as the basis for Daniel Plainview, the character portrayed by Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Black / White. Vignette of an eagle perched atop a rock with a locomotive and steamships in background at top center and a vignette of an oil well at lower left. Yellow underprint. Three revenue stamps affixed at top center of recto and two affixed to verso. Blind embossed company seal. Pen and punch cancelled. Edward Doheny, the child of Irish Immigrants, first came to Los Angeles at the age of 36 in the hopes of making his fortune. Having previously worked as a gold miner, gunslinger and even a singing waiter, the impecunious Doheny luckily learned that crude oil deposits were present below what is now Douglas MacArthur Park. Together with his former mining partner, Charles Canfield, Doheny purchased a vacant lot at the edge of Los Angeles for four hundred dollars and began digging. Using only picks, shovels and eventually a makeshift drill constructed out of a Eucalyptus tree, the two men finally struck oil in late 1892 at a depth of 460 feet. Expanding the operation throughout California and Mexico in the coming years, Doheny grew to become the richest man in American by 1925, surpassing even J.D. Rockefeller. As is often the case, Doheny’s wealth allowed him to extend his influence into the political chambers of the nation’s capital, most notably as a key figure in the Teapot Dome scandal. In 1922, Doheny and Henry Sinclair secured non-competitive land leases through the efforts of Albert Fall, a longtime friend of Doheny’s who was serving in the U.S. Department of the Interior. Though these leases themselves weren’t illegal, the fact that Fall received over four hundred thousand dollars in gifts from the two oilmen for them was. Soon, The Wall Street Journal broke the news of this arrangement, paving the way for a Senate investigation and trials. During Edward Doheny’s trial for bribery, personal tragedy struck the Doheny family when, on February 16, 1929, Ned Doheny and his personal secretary were shot and killed at Ned’s spectacular Greystone mansion. While the circumstance surrounding this tragic event remains clouded in mystery and intrigue, the loss may have played on the sympathies of the jurors, who only needed and hour to return with a not guilty verdict. Conversely, the other to key figures in the case, Henry Sinclair and Albert Fall, the latter of whom earned the dubious distinction of being the first cabinet member to service a prison sentence, were both convicted. The Petroleum Development Company was the first company to interest the railroads on the Pacific coast in the use of oil as a fuel source for their locomotives. In 1903, the AT & SF purchased the company and its properties.

[SPECIMEN] ----, New York. Stock certificate specimen in Phelps Dodge Corporation. Green / Black. Vignette of an allegorical male with power plant in background at top center. Perforation cancellation at signatures. Tape at lower left corner. Overall Very Fine.

1895, Pennsylvania. Stock certifcate for 50 shares. Brown/Black. Vignette of a traction car at top right. Punch and stamp cancelled. Very fine

1852, Pennsylvania. Stock certificate for 32 shares. Black on blue paper. Litho. Vignette of a seated allegorical figure at center, Conestoga wagon in upper right corner. A nice, graphic turnpike stock. Couple of minor edge chinks. Uncancelled and Fine.