Second Bank of the US Shares Owned by Baring Brothers

This stock certificate for 25 shares was issued on April 14, 1830 by the Second Bank’s New York branch to London bank Baring Brothers and Company, likely to consolidate one or more purchases of shares by Barings in the local secondary market. The market price for Second Bank shares in New York at that time was $125 for each $100 par share, giving this certificate a street value of $3,125 (25 x $125).

To minimize fraud, the branch issued certificates bearing six major authentication/anti-counterfeiting devices: 1) the signature of the cashier; 2) the signature of the president; 3) the raised seal of the mother bank (barely discernible at the left of the image, just above the cashier’s signature); 4) the printed engravings at the top and sides (border, banner, eagle-Columbia-ship image and the flourishes at the bottom left); 5) the certificate number at the top left; 6) the waved cut or indent at the left (which could be matched to the stub remaining in the book from which the certificates were cut).

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