These are normal certificates, used for their intended purposes. Different certificate types took different paths and suffered to greater or lesser degrees depending on their original purposes. Subscription receipts encountered different fates than stocks and bonds, but all were intended to pass from hand to hand. Each transfer had its own set of hazards, all of which created the final paper conditions we see today.

Here is an example of the journeys stock certificates often took.

Certificates were usually bound within "stock books" of 50 to 250 pages. In the case of early stock certificates, company clerks hand-wrote stockholder's names, dates and shares on certificates and their attached stubs. Clerks then cut or tore certificates from stock books and passed them to corporate officers. Although presidents sometimes signed in advance of sales, they normally added their signatures to completed stock certificates and passed them on to treasurers. Treasurers signed certificates and finalized sales by attaching paper seals or impressing corporate seals with crimping devices. In later years, certificates passed to trust companies whose own clerks recorded sales and added their own dates and signatures.

Once certificates had been officially issued, they were usually shipped to brokers and then perhaps to owners. Depending on who actually held the stocks, certificates were often hidden away in safes and deposit boxes.

Periods of ownership may have ranged from hours to decades. Once owners decided to sell, certificates started their return journey back to company clerks. Owners normally alerted brokers of their intent to sell, at which point brokers negotiated with willing buyers. Once prices were decided upon, owners signed the backs of certificates, often along with witnesses who effectively attested to their legal ownership. From that point, certificates passed through the hands of intermediaries (banks, brokers, trust companies) who each added their own signatures and transfer marks. Once certificates arrived back at corporate headquarters, clerks cancelled old certificates, added dates and notations of their own and then stored certificates for later bookkeeping purposes. In the early days, certificates were glued back to their original stubs in original stock books. New certificates then began their own journeys toward new owners.

Companies usually preserved old certificates as long as they existed, although many documents suffered accidental destruction through fire, floods, and earthquakes. A large, unknown percentage of certificates were purposely destroyed whenever companies dissolved. Theoretically, only small percentages of issued certificates have survived for today's collectors.

Unknown percentages of certificates were neither sold nor redeemed, but remained hidden away in corporate safekeeping. Some were never sold because they were simply forgotten. Others remain today as the only evidence of long bankrupt or defunct companies which chose to destroy all their old documents.

Unused certificates are "remainders" that survive today because they were issued. Often, books or collections of older certificates were supplanted by newer versions as companies merged or consolidated. Companies often retired their old certificates as they changed their capitalizations, modified their corporate names, or retired old loans. While most companies probably destroyed their unused certificates, a few did nothing.

Unissued "remainders" commonly represent certificates in the best conditions. Nonetheless, collectors generally discount substantially for unissued certificates, regardless of condition.

Proofs are examples of certificates retained by printing and engraving companies. Essentially, they were file copies retained for potential future purposes. Most proofs show markings by engravers, artists, managers, bookkeepers and other employees. Proofs often show evidence of information as diverse as approval by railroad company officials to dates when official production plates were officially destroyed. While sometimes important from historical perspectives, handwritten notes on proofs are usually boringly mundane.

Generally, proofs played no official role other than as a repository for handwritten notes. Very few proofs exist in pristine form. Proofs were rarely protected, so many suffered severe abuses of folding, tearing, foxing, and general paper destruction. While engravers may have "pulled" proofs in several different colors or tested minor engraving variations, all but a few proofs are unique.

Unlike proofs, specimens were retained in near-pristine form. They exist as documentary evidence of final production of certificates prior to delivery to companies. In fact, many specimens can be differentiated from regular-issuance certificates only by a few key features. Specimens were often serial-numbered with zeros (#00000, for instance) and they were often cancelled with tiny holes in the signature areas.

Engraving companies often retained a few specimens for their own files. While many specimens are unique, some may be represented by as many as 25 examples. Since they are commonly identical, there is currently no way to track specimen populations.

Engraving companies often provided one or more specimens to corporations for their own file or comparison purposes. The numbers of specimens created was rarely recorded and little of that sparse information is available in the public domain.

While specimens were never issued, they often suffered deterioration in conditions during storage. Specimens often show bent corners, corner tip folds and edge wrinkling sustained during periodic re-filings. Most specimens retained by the American Bank Note Company show rubber-stamped notices either on the top edges or the backs dictating that specimens should be returned to the "Specimen Department."

Stocks and bonds generally represented large sums of money. Consequently, private owners normally folded their certificates to about the size of regular business envelopes so they could store them easily in small home safes and bank deposit boxes.

Conversely, brokerages often stored their own and their clients' certificates in large, walk-in safes. Folded certificates were unnecessary.

In general, the less important the company, the less likely that its certificates would have been owned by brokerages and institutions. Certificates from minor companies and ancestral companies are more likely to be found only in folded form. Certificates from large , influential companies are often found in vast quantities in unfolded form.

Paper weakens every time it is folded and unfolded. The more often it goes through the fold-unfold cycle, the more likely it is to develop tears.

Equally obvious, the lower the quality of paper used, the more easily it will tear. American Bank Note Company generally used high- to super-high quality paper, especially for some of its bonds. Some of its paper is thick, fibrous, and very hard to tear. At the other end of the quality spectrum, local stationery printers and newspaper printers often used very poor paper. For them, security printing was merely a side business and they were unconcerned with longevity of their printed documents. It is therefore common to see more tears and rips among rare certificates of small, short-lived companies; they could seldom afford the best printing.

The older the certificate, the more likely that edges will be uneven. This is because certificates were often cut apart with scissors. Maintaining even edges was seldom very important.

In general, collectors want certificates with unprinted paper along all edges. In practice, it is hard to find some certificates with full margins. While there are most assuredly price penalties when edges cut into designs, the older the certificate, the less pronounced the price decrease.

Cancellation was customary and necessary when companies redeemed or reissued certificates. The type and degree of cancellation is widely variable, although it is very, very common to see two or more methods of cancellation on single certificates.

Ink pen cancellation was very common on early certificates and was ultimately replaced with machine cancellation. The vast majority of cancelled certificates show paper removal by circular punch cancellations.

The degree of cancellation can range from minor to severe. Minor cancellation is often rewarded by higher prices. Cancellations through or across vignettes are penalized by lower prices.

When stock certificates were sold and consequently returned to companies for cancellation and replacement, clerks generally glued them back against their matching stubs in stock books. As dealers and collectors break up old stock books to sell single certificates, they often leave stubs attached.

Some collectors, myself included, do not like stubs because they hide parts of certificates. Others think they more accurately represent original conditions. While original or reattached stubs are normal, their existence rarely seems to affect prices one way or the other.

Many certificates, from very old to recent, show handwritten notations. Notes can range from simple checkmarks to elaborate records of transfer or probate proceedings. Notations can appear on the fronts or the backs of certificates, although those on the backs tend to be more elaborate.

While such marks should always be described when selling, handwriting does not always lower prices. In fact, many collectors pay premiums for certificates with elaborate stories.

Stock certificates and registered bonds were replaced each time they were sold, but coupon bonds were merely transferred. As a consequence, some coupon bonds retain handwritten evidence of past owners, some of whom may have been important personalities.

Old fountain pen and quill ink was usually composed of lamp black, linseed oil and other additives to help it flow more easily. Some of the components of old ink were slightly acidic and "ate" through certificates over time. While some deterioration from acidic ink is normal, the more apparent the deterioration, the lower the price.