Description:

Gould Jay

Jay Gould Railroad Stock Certificate & Period Caricature Trade Card

 

Two items relating to Gilded Age railroad tycoon and robber baron Jay Gould (1836-1892), including: a railroad stock certificate stamped by Gould; and a period trade card.

 

The lot includes:

 

1. A Erie Railroad Company stock certificate stamped by company president Jay Gould as "Jay Gould" at lower right. Dated December 15, 1869. Preferred Stock Dividend certificate No. 50 promised to pay stockholder John B. Hellger $455 plus interest. Co-signed by at least one other company officer. Bearing a revenue stamp at left. Docketed verso. The certificate is hinged at top to a slightly larger piece of paper. Expected paper folds, creases, and wrinkles. A few chipped edges, else good to very good. 9.125" x 5.5".

 

The Erie Railroad Company was the battle ground of the so-called Erie War (ca. 1850-1870), during which time Jay Gould, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and other major American investors jockeyed for control of the railroad concern. Stock manipulation, corruption, and gross mismanagement led to the collapse of the company in 1878; it was later reconstituted as the New York, Lake Erie and Western Railway.

 

2. A trade card, ca. 1875, entitled "Every Man Rides His Own Hobby" depicting Gould in a checkered suit riding astride a live Western Union telegraph pole. Based on an original drawing by Kash. Advertising a clothier and opera house in Trenton, New Jersey at bottom. Isolated foxing near the left edge of the print recto, and minor mounting traces verso, else near fine. 3" x 5".

 

Gould was a crony of Tammany Hall kingpin William M. "Boss" Tweed. With the long, dark beard of one of the era's melodramatic villains, Gould was immortalized in Thomas Nast's caricatures of crime syndicate ring leaders and their associates. Despite these shady business dealings and similar controversies, Gould managed to keep a hand in railroad company investment well into the late 1880s. His inflation adjusted net worth was $71 billion.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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