For sale here is a vintage stock certificate for Chesapeake Industries - aka - Pathe Film Corporation.  Complete with the legendary Pathe rooster logo in the vignette of the certificate!  Perfect for collectors of historically important ephemera, enthusiasts of film and television production memorabilia, or really anyone looking for a unique and collectible item.

History:  Chesapeake Industries/Pathe has had a long and storied history, and was a key producer of films for Hollywood.  Pathe Company opened in New York in 1904 as a subsidiary of Pathe Freres (Bros.) in France and boasted a catalogue of 12,000 titles.

With the demand for new films at a frenzy, Pathe was the first to utilize multiple productions and very rapidly became the dominant production company in the world. While major US studios were producing 1 or 2 films a month, Pathe was releasing 5 to 7 per week.

In an attempt to keep up, US studios were duplicating Pathe films at a dizzying rate and releasing them as their own. Edwin Porter, in a later interview, admitted that his first job with Edison was copying French films. 

Between 1905-1908 Pathe accounted for about 1/3 of all films shown in the US.  In 1953, the Pathé Industries name was replaced with that of Chesapeake Industries.  In 1958, Chesapeake was acquired by real estate developer William Zeckendorf.

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