Lot 331
1795 Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Stock Certificate. Partly-printed Document Signed "Wm Bingham" as president and "Tench Francis" as treasurer, vellum, 7½"x9½", 1795 Mar. 16. Some yellowing to vellum, else fine. One share of stock, No. 136, to Jasper Yeates of Lancaster County. Vignetted at top with a horse-drawn wagon approaching a toll gate. Five transfers between 1817 and 1899 are noted on the verso. The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Road Company was chartered in April 1792 to construct 62 miles of road at a cost of $465,000, and one thousand shares of stock, printed on paper and carrying a naïve vignette of a four-horse passenger coach, were offered. These share were apparently called in by the company in 1795 and replaced with vellum certificates; approximately 200 additional shares were issued in March 1795. This stock is the earliest-known, vignetted American stock. Jasper Yeates was a jurist who sat in the convention that ratified the constitution of the United States and was an associate justice of the supreme court of Pennsylvania. William Bingham was founder and director of the first bank in the United States. Tench Francis was the nation's first Purveyor of Public Supplies; he contributed huge sums of his personal fortune to support the American Revolution.
Estimated Value $1,000 - 1,500.
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| Realized $600 |
