Bond Certificates

Example Bond Certificates

Bonds certificates are printed a good bit different than stocks. Generally bonds are printed on larger sized paper and come in horizontal format as shown above, or vertical format as shown below. As you will note, there is a lot more detail in the defining of the terms and conditions on a bond compared to a stock certificate. The bond shown above is a railroad bond, since there is no place for the bond holders name, this is a Bearer Bond, ownership of this bond was in the hands of whoever physically has the bond.

The difference between stocks and bonds can be confusing to collectors. When buying stock shares the investor becomes a part owner of the corporation with hopes that the value of the stock increases over time as the company grows and becomes more profitable. When buying bonds the investor is loaning the company money but does not become a part owner in the company, the bond owner's investment brings him financial gains through interest payments.

As with stocks, bonds generally have a Vignette and are usually pretty ornate. Vignettes frequently show allegorical figures as in the vertical bond shown below.

Bond Use, in other words what the money will be used for is stated on the bond certificate. In both examples the bonds are mortgage certificates.

Generally, the bond certificate will indicate how much money the corporation is attempting to raise in the Bond Issue Amount. In the first example the company hopes to sell bonds to accumulate eight million dollars, in the second example fifty million.

All bonds have a Face Value. In our examples, during the era that these bonds were sold, Face Value was generally what the investor would pay for the bond and what the company would pay back to the bond holder when the bond matured. Profitability would come to the bondholder in interest payments.

The Issuing Company is the corporation that is borrowing money from the bond investor.

As with stocks, bonds have Serial Numbers. The number may be sequential numeric or have mix of numeric and alphabetic. The serial number on some older Scripophily examples may be written in by pen and ink.

The collector can usually find somewhere on the certificate the name of the Printer who printed the bond documents. Generally, the printer name can be found at the bottom of a certificate and to the left.

When a bond was sold the clerk issuing the bond would impress into the paper an official corporate seal. The Embossed Seal gave the bond legitimacy. Seals are generally in the lower left corner of the document and in both of the examples a round, intricate, somewhat floral design was used to show where the embossment should be.

All corporate bonds have Terms and Conditions printed on the bond certificate. The terms and conditions define the amount of interest being paid, when and where payments are made, and other important details affecting the bondholder.

When the corporation paid back the loan from the bond holder the bond would be cancelled. A Cancellation Stamp was used on the first example above, hole punches on the second example below. Cancellation could also occur when the corporation would decide to stop selling a bond, the unsold bonds held by the company would be cancelled.

On older bonds the officers of the company would sign the bond in pen and ink. In the top example the President and Secretary signed the document. In the lower example a Vice-President signed. On modern bonds, Officers Signatures are pre-printed.

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