Scripophily is the name of the hobby of collecting old Stock and Bond Certificates and sites like http://www.scripophily.com/ will give you an idea of pricing. Example: a rare Walt Disney Company Specimen Stock Certificate goes for $395.00. Check it out
The going price for a stock certificate is $1.00 no matter how many shares it is. I sometimes buy a few and leave them around for people to find.
Not really a question, just good advice. Comment if you like. I keep seeing questions about the worth of old stock certificates and for requests for freebie sites to check their value.
First. DO NOT try to evaluate the certificate yourself unless you are a stock expert. There are many twists and turns with corporations over the years. With splits, reorganization, renaming and much more, it takes real pros to figure it out.
Second. Don't assume old stock certificates are worthless, get them evaluated. If you have a broker, take them to the broker, if not, I recommend: http://www.oldcompany.com/ No charge if certificate is worthless.
I am administrator of my brother's estate and he had 3 San Diego Gas & Electric Company stock certificates in a safety deposit box. 2 were 34 years old and 1 was 22 years old.
I took the certificates to Schwab (holder of our estate stocks). Note: SDG&E stock converted to their holding company, San Diego-based Enova Corporation, in 1996 and then Enova merged with Los Angeles-based Pacific Enterprises to become Sempra Energy in 1998. These certificates are in front of a Schwab team now. The final answer of how much Sempra stock we will get will take time, but the estimate on the number of shares from this transfer is 12,500.
If the 12,500 shares of Sempra Energy stock is accurate, the stock value at the moment I am writing this is: $101.12 per share, or a total of $1,264,000.00. Not bad for 500 very old shares bought at a very low price.
