Guantanamo Sugar Co. - 1905 Specimen Stock Certificate
Inv# SE3867 Specimen Stock
New York
Specimen Stock printed by American Bank Note Company.
The Guantánamo Sugar Company was established in 1905 and was a significant operation in Cuba. Besides three mills in the Oriente province (Soledad, Isabel and Los Canos) it controlled Guantánamo Railroad with 27 miles of standard gauge railway. The company survived the crisis of 1921 the Great Depression whilst being unable to pay a dividend on its common shares from 1921 - 1938 (and likely thereafter). Pretty much the last time the company makes it into US news is the reports of the nationalisation of the company's three sugar mills by Cuban authorities in March 1960. Typical design for the period for this certificate for less than 100 shares of Capital Stock. Vignette with an ox-cart on a light railway on its way to the mill. The year of issuance for the specimen is not entirely clear. In 1920 the shares changed from a nominal value of 50 US-$ to no par value - so it must have been before 1920 but could plausibly have been the year of incorporation.
Stock and Bond Specimens are made and usually retained by a printer as a record of the contract with a client, generally with manuscript contract notes such as the quantity printed. Specimens are sometimes produced for use by the printing company's sales team as examples of the firm’s products. These are usually marked "Specimen" and have no serial numbers.
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