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Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads by Terry Cox

A guidebook and catalog of prices (I neither buy nor sell stocks and bonds)

Search hundreds of pages on this web site for information about collecting railroad stocks and bonds.

Certificate database

Click to search the special Coxrail database. Information for 23,700+ certificates from over 7,400 North American railroad companies.

Site map

HOME PAGE

PURPOSE of this web site

BIOGRAPHY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

General information about certificates

GLOSSARY
Coxrail BLOG for timely news, announcements, articles
Coxrail Blog archive by CATEGORY
Coxrail Blog archive by DATE
CANCELLATION explained.
COLLECTING ORGANIZATIONS
DIFFERENCES between stocks and bonds
CUSIP NUMBERS, what are they?
IMPRINTED REVENUE STAMPS known on certificates
All about SPECIMENS AND PROOFS
What can SERIAL NUMBERS tell us?
How to tell whether a certificate was ISSUED OR NOT?
Why do some certificates LACK SIGNATURES?
GRADING STANDARDS
GRADING STANDARDS DISCUSSION

Values of collectible certificates

MARKET BASKET PRICE INDEX
Estimating PRICES of collectible certificates
VALUES of certificates as collectibles
VALUES of certificates as securities
Certificates listed as "NOT IN COX"
The PRICING PARADOX
HINTS FOR SELLERS
HOARDS and their effect on prices
Getting APPRAISALS

Known certificates

DATABASE of all known certificates, online, updated every two weeks
- SEARCH HINTS
CATALOG NUMBERING EXPLAINED. How my system works
CURRENT CERTIFICATE POPULATION, general summary
ABBREVIATIONS used in the database
DATES in the database

TYPES of certificates

STOCKS
- TERMINOLOGY of stock certificates
- DENOMINATIONS of stock certificates
- COLORS of stock certificates
BONDS
- PURPOSES of bonds
- COUPON vs REGISTERED bonds
- BEARER vs REGISTERED bonds
- TYPES of bonds
- CROSS-REFERENCE to "Criswell" numbers
- GOLD BONDS
- GOLD BOND SCAMS AND HYPES
- COLORS of bonds
- CURIOUS LETTERING on bonds
- Are COUPONS valuable collectibles?
OTHER collectible railroad certificates

Countries covered

North American COUNTRIES included
North American STATES AND PROVINCES included
Certificates from OTHER COUNTRIES

COMPANIES INCLUDED AND EXCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE

Autographs currently known on railroad certificates

COLLECTING CELEBRITY AUTOGRAPHS
ALL KNOWN AUTOGRAPHS on railroad stocks and bonds
PICTURES of celebrities currently
CRITERIA for LISTING AUTOGRAPHS
Autograph AUTHENTICATION

Buying certificates

DEALERS of railroad certificates
- Different TYPES OF DEALERS
GERMAN GLOSSARY - Glossary of common words used in to describe certificates in German catalogs and price lists.

How do you keep certificates intact?

PRESERVATION issues, discussion of the major things to consider
SOURCES for archival materials
RESTORATION and REPAIR

State seals on certificates

GENERAL DISCUSSION about using state seals
FINDING GUIDE: identifying states from seals that appear on certificatesl
ALL STATE SEALS compiled in one place

LINKS to related web sites

ORGANIZATIONS for stock and bond collectors

NEWSLETTERS, an achived collection of newsletters I send to contributors

COX'S CORNER, articles by Terry Cox in IBSS's Scripophily magazine

Helping with this project: HOW YOU CAN HELP

MYSTERIES I need help solving
- Ninth Street Bee Line
CONTRIBUTE STATES OF OPERATION
REPORTING NEW CERTIFICATE COLOR
CONTRIBUTE IMAGES
- HIGH-RESOLUTION images needed
- IMAGE REQUIREMENTS
- IMAGE SUGGESTIONS
SCANNING TIPS, how to improve images of certificates

HINTS FOR ADOBE PHOTOSHOP ™, How to patch scans together
HINTS FOR COREL PHOTOPAINT ™, How to patch scans together
HINTS FOR JASC PAINT SHOP PRO ™, How to patch scans together
Common issues about SCANNING AND RESOLUTION
"Where are the REST OF YOUR IMAGES?"
AVOID REDUCING YOUR IMAGES
"Why did I NOT USE all the images you sent?

FIXING IMAGES with Google's FREE Picasa program.
Help with SPECIFIC CERTIFICATES
CONTRIBUTE ARTICLES ABOUT COMPANIES.
- "How to write articles."
Preserving your ANONYMITY
Contributing INFORMATION FROM EBAY
My PRIORITIES for handling the vast amount of information contributed
Open LETTER TO CONTRIBUTORS

References used in this guide

REFERENCES TO CERTIFICATES
REFERENCES TO RAILROAD COMPANIES (where railroad names and company information have been found.)

Miscellaneous issues related to collecting certificates

Iliinois Central railroad ROUTE MAPS on certificates
MILLION DOLLAR BILLS (not railroad-related, but I keep getting inquiries)
PRINTERS and ENGRAVING COMPANIES who created certificates
AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY archives. List of auctions of specimens, proofs, plates, and certificates that have been sold from the American Bank Note company archives since 1988.
Posting YOUR CERTIFICATES ONLINE
Off-topic inquiries about PAPER MONEY
Off-topic inquiries about OBSOLETE CURRENCY
Off-topic PAPER MONEY REFERENCES

Miscellaneous issues related to railroads

TIMELINE of events that have affected the railroad industry
Index of CURRIER & IVES prints
Old GEOLOGY GUIDE BOOKS for Western Railroads
RAILROAD LAND GRANTS explained in more detail
DOW-JONES INDEX, the makeup of the index through time

Send an email message with corrections, questions or comments about this page.
(Last updated Feb 2, 2010)

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