Collectible Stocks and Bonds from North American Railroads
by Terry Cox

I need your help adding more serial numbers. It is extremely important that you send scans, photo copies or images. I greatly appreciate every bit of help collectors can provide, but spreadsheets of serial numbers without image confirmations are NOT helpful. I explain here: serial numbers.

This list shows information as it is reported to me or as it appears in sale offerings. Unfortunately, cancellation conditions are not reported the majority of the time. If I cannot tell whether certificates are cancelled or not, I ALWAYS assign new serial number listings to the most common populations. Please correct me when you find mistakes.

Do not be deceived when looking at online certificate images. Just because a certificate looks uncancelled on your computer monitor does not mean it is. Please see reliability of reports of issuance and cancellation.

I also warn against jumping to conclusions about the meanings of the serial numbers you see here. This list:

• DOES NOT imply these are the only serial numbers that exist.
• DOES NOT imply intervening serial numbers still exist.
• DOES NOT imply every listing of issuance and cancellation is correct.

The serial numbers you see here is part of a long-running effort to help both collectors and sellers determine whether certificates are scarcer or more common than previously thought. The collecting community needs YOUR contribution of knowledge. In this hobby, EVERY collector has something to contribute! Even the rawest beginner.

While this website lists about 122,000 serial numbers, that is still a meager number compared to the millions of certificates that were printed. I ask for everyone's help in adding more serial numbers, but I hope you will understand that we must:

• prevent the addition of erroneous and fictitious serial numbers,
• attribute serial numbers to correct varieties,
• assure that issuance and cancellation reports are as accurate as possible,
• be able to review today's contributions in the future.

Therefore, I insist on seeing images before adding new serial numbers to the database. Yes, I know that is tedious for both you and me. But it is necessary to protect the integrity of the knowledge base. Consequently, please send scans, copies or photographs of certificates, even common ones.

Yes, I constantly review old images to make sure that serial numbers are listed as accurately as possible. Between digital files, catalogs, books and copies, I have access to 116,500 images for examination. Nonetheless, there is substantial duplication. Only 21% of the reported serial numbers are represented by images. Who knows how many new varieties and sub-varieties are waiting to be found in the remaining 79%? Can you help?

Yes, you may contribute anonymously. See HOW TO SEND COPIES for more details.

Please contact me if you can contribute additional information about this company.