SHARE the love of Silver

[SILVERFINGER]

I have had the odd old share certs for quite a while and it wasnt until I picked up a joblot of these that they perked my interest a bit more, you can buy old certs for things like manufacturing or railroads for a few quid but anything connected with gold or silver tends to be far more, and silver ones rarer still.

I have only done basic research on these and some of it is conflicting out there so forgive me if some of the info is slightly incorrect.

These share certificates are from the Canadian Lorrain Silver Mines Ltd circa 1924-1925, 

The original workings were sunk in 1909 by Maidens Silver Mining Co, two shafts were sunk into a hill in the area by them.

The property was then taken over in 1922 by the Canadian Lorrain Silver Mines company, they were working there until the Wall Street crash/Great Depression brought an end to things in the late 1920's, a few other company's worked the site (not found out who yet) and the last to work it was Kirkland Townsite Gold Mines Ltd. in 1963. The mine shut down sometime shortly thereafter.

Total production was total production was 277,000 oz of Silver  and 17,000 lbs of Cobalt, makes you wonder if any of that silver is in our stacks, nearly 8 tons of it.

Most of the shares I have are from the Huronion Belt Company Ltd, I am not sure what they did originally, whether or not the 'Belt'  was in a seam of precious metals, or they made conveyor belts for mines etc, they started in 1914 and records show they were finally dissolved in 1932.

The most interesting company out of the three is Stobie, Forlong & Co , these two were later found guilty of fraud by spending someone else's money and not being able to pay it back, $4 million in total, I think this was in 1938, they were both sentenced to 3 years in prison.

There is other company's I have but I am still researching these,

I have a lot of these, some are pictured below, they are all original not copies, are embossed etc,  some I will be keeping in my collection, some will be gifts for close friends and family but I might have some for sale extremely cheap, they look superb framed up, there is slight differences over time, some are completely different to these in their layout, I just shown a few of them.

 

 

 

 

 

[SILVERFINGER]

Had a bit of time so I dug out one of my other share certs that I have had for a while.

 

This is a 1931 dated certificate for the Aladdin Gold Mining Company ltd, The Aladdin Gold Mine is near Palisade, Nevada. Historically the site has been part of the Railroad Mining District. The site was first discovered in 1869, work starting in the 1870's, during the early part of WW2 it failed to file its annual report several times and I think it was taken over by another gold mining company, the problem in researching this one in such a short time is there was several Aladdin Gold Mining Company's in different countries that were not related.
The purchaser of this certificate was a M Grotyohn,  he was a vice president of a mine development company, thats all I can find about him so far.
There was several mines in this area at the time, the Aladdin being the largest.
All the mines were small scale operations and I cannot find any production quotas yet for what they found, Copper was a secondary product from there.

Primary: Aladdin Mine
Secondary: Standing Elk Mine
Secondary: Hoffman Claim
Secondary: Bunker Hill
Secondary: Key
Secondary: Hecla Mine
Secondary: Bald Mtn. Chief Mine
Secondary: Nevada Bunker Hill

I will try and find time to photograph some more when I get chance, as always if anyone finds any more information on these its most welcome, I had some of them years but never really looked into the history of them.

[SILVERFINGER]

Had chance to photograph another share cert, this time a 1969 dated share for the Silver Divide Mines Company, done a little bit of quick research on it and found the following,

The Tonopah Divide area of Nevada was originally mined on a small scale for gold since 1902, the Tonopah-Gold Mountain Mining Company was organised in 1902 to mine gold on the property. George Wingfield and Brougher reorganised it in 1912 as the Tonopah-Divide Mining Co. A rich silver lode was unexpectedly encountered in 1917. A Mr. T. Williamson was owner and operator in 1931. This has been the district's biggest producer. There was much exploration activity in the district in the 1970s and 1980s. The property was listed as an active, open pit, gold-silver mine in 1981, employing a total of 40 people, many smaller company's such as the Silver Divide Mines Company leased land there for mining silver and gold.
The purchaser of these shares is still going to this day as a real estate company, though only the two family names, Cohen and Simonson

The area produced 138 million troy ounces (4,300 metric tons) of silver and 1.5 million ounces (47 metric tons) of gold
 

 

 

[Tommmmy555]

Very interesting pieces of history, thanks for sharing.

[SILVERFINGER]

1 hour ago, Tommmmy555 said:

Very interesting pieces of history, thanks for sharing.

I reckon there is a good chance that at least one of us on this forum could own some of the silver or gold from one of these mines.

[Tommmmy555]

Just now, SILVERFINGER said:

I reckon there is a good chance that at least one of us on this forum could own some of the silver or gold from one of these mines.

Wouldn't be suprised. It get's melted down and repoured over time I should think!

[SILVERFINGER]

6 minutes ago, Tommmmy555 said:

Wouldn't be suprised. It get's melted down and repoured over time I should think!

It should be like meat in the UK and have a label where it came from, who mined it and when or like the back of Tesco Finest ©  crisps, 'they were grown and harvested by farmer Jones of Lincolnshire' 

[SILVERFINGER]

Had time to photograph and do a little research into another share certificate I have, this ones for the Upper Watut Gold Alluvials of New Guinea and was purchased in 1935, this Australian based company was one of the smaller scale and first of the 'legitimate' companies that first started in New Guinea, they and many other of the smaller mines were eventually bought up by what I think was the Bulolo Gold Dredging Ltd  alluvial type mining was a small scale and less mechanised, but more labour intensive type of mine that was based on the Watut river area, gold was mined via panning and using the small box method of running water through a wooden box with grills to catch gold when earth was placed in it, the soil and other debris washed out the end and the gold being heavier was trapped in the box, Parker Schnabel of the Goldrush Discovery programs did a visit there and helped a small village set up their own operation, this shows how they mined there as it has not really changed in over 100 years.

 

[SILVERFINGER]

This is another share certificate I picked up, this is currently the oldest one in my collection that I have found so far being issued in 1910.
The Wanderer Gold Mines Ltd company was a British company operating in the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the original company set up in the Selukwe area (now renamed Shurugwi) in 1899, the company got into trouble in 1909 and was liquidated, later that year the company started up again under the same name and the mining operation ran until 1920 when it was liquidated again.
This area produced gold, platinum and chromium and seems to be have floated by share holders financially as the material excavated from there was very hard and had to be crushed and heated to a high temperature to extract the gold and the amount of gold obtained was back then 26 shillings a ton.
So far I have not been able to find any details on James Walby of Belfast, there was one around this time who was an architect living in Belfast but do not know if it was the same person and another who was a dentist.

 

[SILVERFINGER]

Had time to dig out and try and research another share cert, this one is from the New Callao Gold Mining Company Ltd dated 1928

Gold was first found in El Callao, Bolivar, Venezuela in 1853, it started a huge gold rush, when most gold mines in the world were producing 120g per ton the El Callao was extracting 1.5kg per ton,

the gold rush was over by the 1900's and new ways of extracting gold from the tailings and surrounding area had to be made, the company on this certificate used the cyanide chemical extraction method by the time this certificate was issued.

The New Callao Gold Mining Company Ltd was a British company operating in Venezuela from circa 1884 (earliest documentation I have found just relates to purchase of machinery), information on this company has been hard to find for me as of yet, but the company was still operating as of 1928 when this share was issued, oddly (to me) apart from the company name, the rest of the certificate is in French, and has a French address as well as the English one, was it perhaps issued to somebody in France ?
Translated it says

Provisional bearer certificate

shares to be exchanged for definitive bearer securities French stamps resulting from the conversion of fully paid up registered shares from, ( serial no of shares here) from the issue made in 1912.

 

[mrrick]

wow this is a great piece of history , the british shares being issued in shillings made me laugh , i havent seen that in a while 

[Homer]

Thanks for sharing , I really found that interesting . I have an interest in industrial history. 

[SILVERFINGER]

No problem, as I get time and dig out more to research and buy the odd one I will put them on here.

[SILVERFINGER]

The Lyndhurst Deep Level Gold & Silver Ltd company was incorporated in 1896, and was a British company working out in Ghana on the Gold Coast,  they specialised is hard rock mining in either giant open pits or mines up to 1.5 km underground and the metals were extracted straight from the rock and not from sediments.
I can only find production figures for 1951, 
30,165 tons of rock processed to give 10,853 oz of fine gold, this sounds a huge amount but the Ashanti mine operating in the same area extracted 250,000 oz's in the same year, this could explain why the company was wound up in 1957.
The share is for 200 Shillings which was equal then to £10, which was the equivalent of roughly £400 in todays money.
I cannot find anything out about the lady who purchased the shares, but it does make me wonder sometimes that during this time there was a war raging and the nazis were on Britains doorstep, that somebody would buy shares in gold in another country.
The address is still there, complete with someone in a dog outfit in the front garden lol.

Found this extract about the company being wound up.

LYNDHURST DEEP-LEVEL (GOLD AND SILVER), Limited. The Companies Act, 1948. AT an Extraordinary General Meeting of the Members of Lyndhurst Deep-Level (Gold and Silver), Limited, duly convened and held on Tuesday, 24th January, 1956, the following Resolution was duly passed as a Special Resolution, viz.: — "That Lyndhurct Deep-Level (Gold and Silver), Limited be wound uo voluntarily and .that Ronald George Scarfe, F.C.I.S., of 49, Moorgate, London, E.C.2, and Raymond Plummer, F.C.A., of 55-61, Moorgate, London, E.C.2, be and they are hereby appointed Joint Liquidators of -the Company for the purposes of such winding-up." (366) R. ANNAN, Chairman. 

 

 

[SILVERFINGER]

This a share certificate for the Palmietkuil Gold Mining Company Ltd dated 1937.
The Palmietkuil area was located east of Johannesburg in South Africa, it was originally a large farmstead until gold was found there around 1885, Two men Lewis & Marks (originally from Lithuania and had moved to London) set about buying up farmsteads and mines in the area, and had a large portfolio of companies in South Africa, Marks became good friends of President Kruger, and the president said if he could supply gold to make 300 coins as gifts for him to give to friends he could have a free reign mining in that area, coal mining eventually became as important as gold mining in this region.
The mine had a capacity of processing over 800,000 tons of ore in 1937, not been able to find end production totals for this mine yet. 
In 1941 the land was taken over by the Grootvlei Proprietary Mines Limited. Mine location is Palmietkuilen 241 farm, now in Sedibeng District according to boundary maps.
The compounds of the gold mine on Palmietkuil Farm were taken over by the Union Defence Force at the outbreak of Second World War and used as the main training centre of the Military Corps. The centre was served by its own hospital. The cemetery contains 217 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, all of the South African Army. A memorial within the cemetery, behind the Cross of Sacrifice, bears the names of 122 soldiers, whose graves in remote parts of the country could not be properly maintained.
I think that Rand Mining took over most of the mines in this area postwar, I have not been able to find out much more info in such a short time.
I have not been able to find out any info on the purchaser of the share, partly due to the writing style of the address, its possibly a South African address, if anyone knows or can decipher it please let me know.

 

 

A friend sent me

Quote

Robert Graham McGechie died in 1943. The Avenue is actually Loxwood in Worthing, the McGechie's are a well known clan in Scotland.

 

 

 

 

 

Maps of the mining area when this share was issued

 

 

 

[SILVERFINGER]

This is another of my precious metal related share certificates, this one is of The Sheba Gold Mining Company Ltd, and is dated 1922.
The mines today make up BML (Barberton Mines Ltd) started operations more than a hundred years ago. 
Originally, the New Consort area consisted of several small workings. Over time, these were consolidated into what was to become known as New Consort Gold Mines. In 1933, the company’s name changed to Eastern Transvaal Consolidated Mines (ETC), and in 1948 ETC became a member of the Anglovaal group. The life of the Sheba mine began with the discovery of Bray’s Golden Quarry, the first 13,000 t of ore yielding 50,000 oz of gold. 
Sheba and its adjacent workings changed hands quite frequently before being acquired by ETC in 1937. Mining at the Fairview mine started in 1886 as a number of small operations. These continued intermittently until 1955 when they were consolidated under Federale Mynbou. ETC acquired Fairview Mine in 1998.

For one of the largest producing mines of gold this share certificate is pretty bland looking compared to some I own.

Not been able to find anything out about the owner, the house that was at the address is long gone and seems replaced with what looks to be retirement flats, the houses to the left of that address look quite large nice detached houses.
 

 

anyone know what these are on the back ?

 

 

The original houses on that street, No59 would of been where the new build retirement flats now are to the right of the grey house.

 

 

[SILVERFINGER]

This huge (bigger than A3) share certificate is for 25 shares of the Government Gold Mining Consolidated Ltd (Modderfontein), dated 1933. 
This British company operated on the government owned farm area of Modderfontein in South Africa from 1910 to 1962, though by this time it was under different ownership.

I managed to find the balance sheets for this company, a list of all the directors and other gold mining companies they owned or managed too.

 

 

[SILVERFINGER]

Had time to photograph another share cert, this one is for the Nanwa Gold Mines Ltd, dated 1946, this mine was owned by a British company and was based in the Gold Coast Ashanti area of Ghana, the company was registered in 1902 but by the 1950's was having problems but was still issuing shares, the company was liquidated in 1975.

During WW2 the mine area was used by the SOE to train agent recruits and others in the art of demolition and other useful skills, 40 students being trained there.

The company which purchased this share is still going and hard to find information on, it looks like one of the many companies listed in the UK but based in the British Virgin Islands possibly to avoid paying UK taxes.

The address is still there though I am not sure if the building is the original one from 1946, it looks a little new next to its neighbour (possibly war damaged ??).

 

 

 

15 Bishopsgate today

 

[SILVERFINGER]

Its been a while since I had time to post some of my shares on here, managed to do two of a gold mining company.

The Simmer Deep Limited was a company based in Witwatersrand South Africa, it was owned by The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa Limited Company, the parent company was founded in 1887 in London. and had gold mining operations all over the world, I have not been able to find information on the Simmer Deep company itself but have on the people who bought the shares.
August Simmer was a German who had a shop with his business partner John Jack, a Scot, they had the Simmer & Jack Company, in 1886 huge deposits of gold were started to be found in the Witwatersrand area of South Africa, so they bought a large farm that year and John registered for mining rights, the gold was initially hard to extract as it was intermingled in Pyrite, a meeting with a fellow Scotsman who was a chemist led to the extraction of gold using cyanide.
I wonder if this company was named after or connected to him some how.
The city of Johannesburg was built and founded on the gold mining in this area, and it had some of the deepest and highest producing gold mines in the world there.  
The Simmer Deep company was trading (according to the dates on my shares) between 1907 & 1916, I have not seen many other shares but they have similar dates, the earlier blue cert is huge, more than twice the size of the later red one.
The 1916 dated share has the customer of the name of Claude Marzetti, he was born in 1860 in Lambeth, England, and died in 1949 at Westminster, he worked at the London Stock exchange with his father Robert Marzetti.
The 1907 dated share has quite an interesting previous owner of the name Jules Porges, he was born in 1839, he moved to Paris from Prague and became an established diamond trader under the company name Jules Porgès & Cie, he recognised early on the importance of the large diamond deposits being found in South Africa and when he heard about the gold being found there also he decided to send some of his companies reps to buy up land and mining rights and other mining companies in the area, he died in 1921.

 

This is a huge share cert

 

This is less than half the size

 

 

 

August Simmer & John Jack

 

 

Jules Porges

 

 

And his old business address/home ?