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PURPOSE of this website

BIOGRAPHY

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

GENERAL INFORMATION about certificates

• GLOSSARY
• 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?
• Microvariations NOT INCLUDED IN THIS CATALOG
• GRADING STANDARDS
• GRADING STANDARDS DISCUSSION

PRICES 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
  • ABOUT THE COXRAIL DATABASE (in case you're considering your own catalog project)
• CATALOG NUMBERING EXPLAINED. How my system works
• 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
  • SCRIP
  • WARRANTS
  • RECEIPTS
  • TEMPORARY STOCKS AND BONDS
  • CERTIFICATES OF DEPOSIT
  • FRACTIONAL STOCKS and BONDS
  • STOCK TRANSFERS

AREAS of North America covered

• COUNTRIES included
• STATES AND PROVINCES included
• Certificates from OTHER COUNTRIES

COMPANIES in this project

• COMPANIES INCLUDED
• RULES for listing companies
• OFF-TOPIC or non-genuines "companies" already rejected

AUTOGRAPHS currently known on railroad certificates

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

BUYING certificates

• DEALERS who sell railroad certificates
• Understanding EBAY BIDDING.
• GERMAN GLOSSARY - Glossary of common words used to describe certificates in German catalogs and price lists.

PROTECTING YOUR CERTIFICATES

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

STATE SEALS (Coats of Arms) 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 websites

ORGANIZATIONS for stock and bond collectors

NEWSLETTERS, an achived collection of the UPDATE newsletter I mailed to contributors until 2009.

Mar, 1999 Jun, 1999 Sep, 1999 Dec, 1999 Mar, 2000 Jun, 2000 Sep, 2000 Dec, 2000 Mar, 2001 Jun, 2001 Sep, 2001 Dec, 2001 Mar, 2002 Jun, 2002 Mar, 2003 Dec, 2003 Mar, 2004

Jun, 2004 Sep, 2004 Dec, 2004 Sep, 2005 Dec, 2005 May, 2006 Aug, 2006 Nov, 2006 Mar, 2007 Jun, 2007 Sep, 2007 Apr, 2008 Jun, 2008 Jan, 2009 Jul, 2009 Aug, 2009

COX'S CORNER, an ongoing column I write for IBSS's Scripophily magazine

Jun, 2007 Dec, 2007 Jun, 2008 Dec, 2008 Apr, 2009 Jul, 2009 Dec, 2009 Apr, 2010 Aug, 2010 Dec, 2010 Apr, 2011 Aug, 2011

Dec, 2011 Apr, 2012 Dec, 2012 Apr, 2013 Aug, 2013 Dec, 2013 Apr, 2014 Aug, 2014 Dec, 2014 Apr, 2015 Aug, 2015 Dec, 2015

COXRAIL BLOG for timely news, announcements and articles

• Archive of Coxrail Blog articles by CATEGORY

HELPING WITH THIS PROJECT. Every collector has something to offer.

• MYSTERIES I need help solving
  • Ninth Street Bee Line
• Giving me PRICE GUIDANCE
• REPORTING NEW CERTIFICATE COLORS
• CONTRIBUTE IMAGES
  • HIGH-RESOLUTION images needed
  • IMAGE REQUIREMENTS
  • IMAGE SUGGESTIONS
• SCANNING, a whole sub-section dedicated to scanning 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
• Full list of CONTRIBUTORS

REFERENCES USED in this guide

• REFERENCES TO CERTIFICATES
  • PRICE GUIDES
  • BOOKS
  • AUCTION CATALOGS
  • DEALER PRICE LISTS
• REFERENCES TO RAILROAD COMPANIES (where railroad names and company information have been found.)

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES related to collecting certificates

• Illinois Central railroad ROUTE MAPS on certificates
• MILLION DOLLAR BILLS (not railroad-related, but I receive many 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
• GEOLOGY GUIDE BOOKS for Western Railroads
• PUCK and JUDGE MAGAZINES with caricatures of 19th century railroad millionaires
• RAILROAD LAND GRANTS explained in more detail
• RAILROAD MAGAZINES
• DOW-JONES INDEX, the makeup of the index through time

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES related to engraving

• Extracted text about ENGRAVING AND ETCHING from a classic 1923 book
• Engravings by HERBERT BOURNE (a specialty sub-website)