Description:

William Fargo Signed American Merchants Union Express Company Stock Certificate

An attractive, important stock certificate, issued as No. 584 for 10 shares within one month of the merger of one of the largest institutions still in existence today. By 1903, the American Express Company had assets of some $28 million. American Merchants Union Express Company Stock Certificate. Single page 11.75" x 9.5". Signed by William G. Fargo, "Wm G. Fargo" as President, "E. P. Ross" as Treasurer, and "J. N. Knapp" as Secretary, New York. Dated "17th day of Dec 1868". Certificate No. 584. Issue of 180,000 shares of Capital Stock; each share was worth $100 with this certificate showing a value of 10 shares. Cancellation ink stamp to front, with cancellation hole to lower edge, slightly affecting signature, else bright and near fine.

Assignment template on verso filled out and dated "Dec 1st, 1881". With a lovely 25-cent Inter Revenue stamp. A handsomely engraved stock certificate from the era of intense competition amongst the 3 rivaling financial and express transport institutions, and issued only one month after the destined merger. The catalyst at the time was the discovery of gold in California in 1849, which prompted a huge spike in the demand for cross-country shipping. Combine this with California's failure to regulate both the banking and the express industry, leaving both fields wide open to create a period ripe for chaos. Anyone with a wagon and team of horses could open an express company; all it took to open a bank was a safe and a room to keep it in. Wells and Fargo decided to take advantage of these great opportunities.

Speculation in the California banking system became so rampant that by 1855 the California banking system collapsed. The original company was founded on March 18, 1850, through the consolidation of three companies active in the express transport of goods between New York City and Buffalo, New York, and points in the Midwest: (1) Livingston, Fargo & Company (formerly Western Express), founded in 1845 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, later of Wells Fargo fame; (2) Wells & Co. (formerly Livingston, Wells & Co.), co-founded by Wells in 1846 and under his ownership at the time of the merger; and (3) Butterfield & Wasson, founded by John Butterfield and James D. Wasson. American Express was at first an unincorporated association of investors headed by Wells as president and Fargo as secretary. By the end of the American Civil War, its business had so flourished, with some 900 offices in 10 states, that it attracted competition in 1866 in the formation of Merchants Union Express Company. For two years the two companies engaged in cutthroat competition and, on the verge of financial exhaustion, finally merged on November 25, 1868, to form the American Merchants Union Express Company, with Fargo succeeding as president. The company was renamed American Express Company in 1873. 

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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