Foster Business Library


Old Stock Certificates


This guide is designed to be a starting point for doing research on old stock certificates. It includes print resources available in the Foster Business Library, as well as database and web resources, for researching companies and for finding historical stock prices.
Foster Business Library research guides are aimed at University of Washington students, faculty, and staff, highlighting resources available to them; users not currently affiliated with the university may be unable to access some of these resources.
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Foster Business Library Databases:

The Foster Business Library offers an extensive collection of over fifty databases on its homepage; see under Databases. For a complete list of Foster databases, see the List of All Business Databases. Access to these databases from off campus requires that you first go to the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. These resources may not be accessed from off campus except by those with a valid UW Net ID and password. For more information on Foster business databases, click Databases, A-Z. For information on which Foster business databases to use, see the Database Index. For information on accessing Foster databases from off campus, see Database Access. For guidelines on responsible database usage, see Database Usage.

Company Information:

  • ProQuest Databases:   This database offers over 100 million full text articles in over 10,000 journals, newsletters, and newspapers. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box. This database is also available from most public libraries and is accessible from home for those with library card. Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article. For tips on searching this database, go to About ProQuest Databases.

    This database is a good source for information on companies. Go to Topic Guide to find the form of company name used in this database. If your company is not listed in this database, try a basic search on the name of the company, in quotes.

  • Mergent Online:   On the Foster Business Library homepage, listed under Business Databases. Online access to the print edition of the Mergent Manuals, with extensive information on 11,000 U.S. and 17,000 international companies, including financials, stock, properties, joint ventures, annual reports, subsidiaries, S.E.C. filings, etc. For search tips, see About Mergent Online.

    This database, unlike some sources of company information, includes both active and inactive companies.

    Historical Stock Prices:

  • Bloomberg:   Bloomberg is an online database available only on a dedicated Bloomberg workstation, providing 24-hour current and historical financial quotes, commodity market and economic statistics, business newswires, and descriptive information, research and statistics on over 52,000 companies worldwide. In the Foster Business Library, the Bloomberg workstation is located in the Electronic Reference Area on Public PC #20; it may be identified by the red card on top of the monitor. Use of this workstation is limited to current University of Washington students, faculty and staff. A 17-page guide to using Bloomberg is available, adjacent to the workstation, in a black binder with Bloomberg on the spine. For more about Bloomberg, click here.

    Type the stock's ticker symbol, then hit the yellow EQUITY key; then GO. Choose Historical Prices and change the date range to suit your needs.

    Web resources:

    Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.

    Stock Certificates:

  • U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission:   Short, concise article referencing several resources for assessing the value of stock certificates.

  • Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, Securities Division:   This web page provides information pertaining to stocks issued by Washington State corporations.

  • Collectible Stocks and Bonds:   The hobby of collecting old stocks and bonds is called "Scripophily." It has grown substantially as electronic trading eliminates paper certificates. Check this web site to see if your old stock certificate no longer has investment value but is a collector's item.

  • Goldsheet Obsolete Securities:   Extensive list of print resources, state agencies, and commercial services relating to obsolete securities.

  • Scripophily.com:   A commercial site specializing in the selling of old stock and bond certificates, notable for its collection of images of obsolete securities.

  • Stock and Bond Auction Company:   Interactive auction website devoted exclusively to the collecting of "antique stocks and bonds and related paraphernalia."

  • Fee-based commercial web sites that provide research on old stock and bond certificates, such as:

    • R.M. Smythe
      26 Broadway, Suite 973
      New York, NY 10004-1703
      Phone (212) 943-1880
      Toll Free: (800) 622-1880
      Fax: (212) 908-4670

    • Stock Search International
      4761 West Waterbuck Drive
      Tucson, Arizona 85742 USA
      Phone (520) 579-5635
      Toll Free: (800) 537-4523
      Fax (520) 579-5639
      E-mail: ssi@stocksearchintl.com

    Historical Stock Prices:

  • Yahoo! Finance:   This site is a good source for company and investment information as well as an excellent source for historical stock prices. Search for stock by ticker symbol and chose the option for historical stock prices. For expired ticker symbols, this site is not useful; in such cases, print resources may be the only recourse.

    Foster Business Library Reference Collection:

    The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.

    Company Information:

  • The corporate acquisition guide.
    This older ring binder provides information on corporate acquisitions from 1881 to 1997.
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call Number: HD2746.55 .U5 .C67 1997.

  • Mergent company archives manual.
    2,700 U.S. companies that merged, were acquired, went bankrupt or became private companies from 1996 to 2000.
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call number: HD2746.55 .U5 .M466 2001.

  • Mergent company archives manual supplement.
    1,500 U.S. companies that merged, were acquired, went bankrupt or became private companies since 2001.
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call number: HD2746.55 .U5 .M466 2002.

  • Directory of obsolete securities.
    This large older volume covers banks and companies whose original identities were lost due to name changes, mergers, acquisition, dissolution, etc.
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call Number: HG4961 .D56 1994.

  • Capital changes reporter.
    This large black multi-volume ring binder, published by CCH, "provides the facts and figures to compute a security holder’s gain or loss from capital changes." It covers "over 58,000 corporations in a database that spans over 100 years."
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call Number: KF1428 .A6 .C65 (updated regularly)

    In the Foster Business Library Reference Serials collection, located on the south side of the wall behind the reference collection:

  • Business periodicals index.
    This periodicals index is useful for searching for companies mentioned in business periodicals prior to the coverage of full text periodical article databases such as ABI/Inform Global. There is no cumulative index to all volumes.
    Foster Business Library Reference Serials, Call Number: Z7164 .C81 .B983 1958/1959-2001.

    The Foster Business Library collections do not include one of the main reference works for this topic, available at many public libraries in the area:

  • Robert D. Fisher manual of valuable and worthless securities.
    This set of over a dozen volumes is available locally at the King County Library System and at the Seattle Public Library.

    Historical Stock Prices:

    In the case of companies that have changed ticker symbols, merged, been acquired or gone out of business, finding daily stock price closings is more complicated; print sources must be consulted since this information typically disappears from web sources. The sources below include daily volume, high, low and closing prices.

    Try:

    Daily stock price record.
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call number: HG4915 .I23 (Quarterly) for the NYSE, back to 1972;
    Foster Business Library Reference,Call number: HG4915. I22 (Quarterly) for the ASE, back to 1972;
    Foster Business Library Reference, Call number: HG4915. I24 (Quarterly) for the NASDAQ, back to 1993.

    For earlier daily stock prices, see:

    ISL daily stock price index.
    Foster Business Library Reference Serials, Call number: HG4915 .I23 (Quarterly) for the NYSE, from 1961 to 1972;
    Foster Business Library Reference Serials, Call number: HG4915. I22 (Quarterly) for the ASE, from 1962 to 1972;

    Daily stock price index, over-the-counter.
    Foster Business Library Reference Serials, Call number: HG4915. I24 (Quarterly), from 1972 to 1992.

    ISL daily stock price index, over-the-counter.
    Foster Business Library Reference Serials, Call number: HG4915. I24 (Quarterly), from 1968 to 1972.

    For older stock prices, the only source is often in the microfilm backfiles of the Wall Street Journal, located in the UW Libraries' Microform & Newspaper Collections.

    Help:

    Created by Ronica Kieft; last updated 17 April 2007, by Peter Stevens, Business Librarian, stevens@u.washington.edu, 206-543-4360.