1852 DUTCH ISSUED $100 SHARE CERTIFICATE IN THE
BANK OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA IN PHILADELPHIA
WITH A UNIQUE MUSICAL SCORING SECURITY DEVICE

THIS DOCUMENT IS COVERED BY OUR WRITTEN, SIGNED AND SEALED
LIFETIME GUARANTEE OF AUTHENTICITY

Front Page of Certificate

Back Page of Certificate

Historical Note

The issuing bank of this certificate was the very famous group of Hope & Comp. Ketwich and Voombergh and the widow of Willem Borski. Stock substitutions were popular among small investors, because they enhanced liquidity and saved on transactions cost associated with investing in foreign markets. Investment banks would purchase securities in the foreign market and issue certificates like this in the domestic market that were fully backed by the foreign assets. Any interest or dividends on the foreign securities would simply be passed on to the certificate holders. Hope and Co, Ketwich and Voombergh, and Widow W. Borski were an association of Dutch merchant bankers specializing in stock substitutions. They would be similar to ADR's or American Depository Receipts which you would buy in the US today in order to own shares in a foreign company. In this case this is a certificate for One Share worth $100 in the Bank of United States of America.  As the active dates run from 1845 to 1852, it may be assumed that these were later certificates for the troubled US bank while it attempted to re-organize, but guaranteed by the Dutch consortium.

In the 19th century Hope & Co. specialized in railway and banking investments in the United States and Russia. In the 20th century the emphasis shifted from international transport to Dutch investments. In the latter 20th century the company Hope & Co. first merged with Mees & Zn., then with Pierson, was later taken over by ABNAmro, and is now part of Fortis. In 1804 Hope & Co. issued shares to finance the Louisiana Purchase.

The Second Bank of the United States was federally chartered in 1816 after James Madison and Albert Gallatin found the government unable to finance the War of 1812 and after the closing of the First Bank of the United States in 1815. The Second Bank of the United States was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where its building, designed by the architect William Strickland, still stands as part of Independence National Historical Park. This Second Bank was patterned after the First Bank of the United States. The legality of the Bank was upheld in the U.S. Supreme Court case McCulloch v. Maryland 17 U.S. 316 (1819) that also declared null and void any state law contrary to a federal law made in pursuance of the Constitution. The Panic of 1819 lead up to McCulloch v. Maryland. Maryland adopted a policy to restrict banks, by placing a tax on any bank that was not chartered by the state legislature. This tax was either 2% of all assets or a flat rate of $15,000. That meant that the Baltimore Branch would have to pay this hefty tax. McCulloch filed suit against the state in a county court. The case made its way through the courts, all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, where the tax by the state of Maryland was ultimately struck down. Daniel Webster successfully argued the case for the bank.

The Bank's President, Nicholas Biddle (1786-1844), was an upper class well educated man of letters with banking expertise. The bank became a major campaign issue in 1832, with Jackson supported by the Democrats and Biddle supported by Henry Clay, who ran against Jackson. Although its charter was bound to run out in 1836, Jackson wanted to "kill" the Second Bank of the United States even earlier. Jackson is considered primarily responsible for its demise, seeing it as an instrument of political corruption and a threat to American liberties. Biddle decided to seek an extension of the bank's charter four years early, in 1832. Henry Clay helped to steer the bill through Congress. But renewal of the Second Bank's federal charter was vetoed on July 10, 1832 by President Jackson. After Jackson won re-election, the national charter was never again renewed, although its still current charter ran to 1836. The Bank thus continued to served as the depository for Federal funds until 1833, when President Andrew Jackson instructed his Secretaries of the Treasury to cease depositing federal funds. Two refused to obey, so he fired them, one after the other, until he got one who obeyed: Roger B. Taney, his former Attorney General and the future Supreme Court Chief Justice. Tensions were again high in August 1841 when President John Tyler vetoed a Whig Party bill that called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States and it became completely defunct as a federal depository after 1841. However, the Bank, always a privately owned institution, was kept in operation by Biddle using a state charter. Although the occasional US stock certificate for this bank can be found into the 1850's, this is the only foreign issued bond we have ever handled. Hope & Co. represented the Dutch or European shareholders in the US Bank when it ran into difficulties after cotton speculations that went wrong.

Coupon Sheet Insert

 
Border Details of Front Page
Bond was issued by the private firm of Hope & Company. The edge decoration/security is unusual, designed by Joh. Enschede of Amsterdam as a musical script, it was never used as such because it did not become popular. It was subsequently used as a security method of which this is a very nice example. Other printers did not have access to it.

Issued Amsterdam 2 January 1852
Signed by Hope & Co./ Ketwich Voombergh and Borski

Certificate #83241

Embossed Seal

Certificate for $100 Bond in Bank of the United States of America of Philadelphia

Detail of Coupon - The number 83241 is handwritten in ink
The signature "Hope Co" is a stamped ink registration

Document Specifications:  An Extremely Fine condition Dutch Bond issued in Amsterdam for $100 and full coupon sheet dated Amsterdam 2 January 1852 and issued by Hope & Co. Consists of a folded sheet (bifolium) of heavy stock wove paper watermarked: "HOPE COMP KETWICH" and "VOOMBERGH en W W BORSKI" and is printed on the front and back pages as shown above. Inside is a loose single page printed on one side with coupons. There is a blank space where a coupon #1 might have been placed in the upper left. Each page measures ≈ 218mm wide by 265mm high, or 8½" x 10½". This signed and sealed certificate was a pledge for one share for $100. It employs the highly unusual use of a failed musical notation system as the security border device for the certificate!

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