AMERICAN EXPRESS COMPANY 100 Share Stock Certificate 1963 Orange - Scarce!

Description

Rare, vintage collectible piece of American Express history.  Includes a vignette of the iconic Centurion logo, which has become synonymous with AMEX.
This certificate is in near-perfect condition - and was printed by American Bank Note Company.  This is absolutely authentic, NOT a reproduction.  As many of you already know, paper stock and bond certificates have for the most part gone away in favor of electronic 'book-entry' ownership.  Physical certificates have become very collectible, and an important part of Wall Street history.  Unlike collectibles such as sports cards, stamps, coins, etc. where 100s of millions are still being produced each year, the available supply of stock certificates is now nearly fixed.
History:
In 1850, American Express was started as an
express mail
business in
Buffalo, New York
.
It was founded as a joint-stock corporation by the merger of the express companies owned by
Henry Wells
(Wells & Company),
William G. Fargo
(Livingston, Fargo & Company), and
John Warren Butterfield
(Wells, Butterfield & Company, the successor earlier in 1850 of Butterfield, Wasson & Company).
Wells and Fargo also started
Wells Fargo & Co.
in 1852 when Butterfield and other directors objected to the proposal that American Express extend its operations to California.
American Express initially established its headquarters in a building at the intersection of Jay Street and
Hudson Street
in what was later called the
Tribeca
section of Manhattan. For years it enjoyed a virtual monopoly on the movement of express shipments (goods, securities, currency, etc.) throughout New York State. In 1874, American Express moved its headquarters to 65 Broadway in what was becoming the
Financial District
of Manhattan, a location it was to retain through two buildings.
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