For Sale is a RARE, 1913 Vintage Stock Certificate of the Boston American League Base-Ball Club (known today as the Boston Red Sox).  The Certificate (long since cancelled) has an indicated face value of $100 issued in the name of Frank Cooper and evidences ownership of one (1) share of Common Stock. As a point of temporal reference, Fenway Park had just opened in 2012 and the Red Sox also won the World Series that year.

The Certificate is engraved in Orange decorative border with black script and has a large black engraved vignette of an allegorical seated female figure in two-thirds clockwise perspective.  At the bottom center, the corporate seal of the Boston American League Base-Ball Club is embossed.  The Certificate is signed on the front bottom right by John I. Taylor, Vice President, who was the Principal Owner of the Red Sox from 2004 until 2011, and who remained a part owner of the club until 2014 (the year after issuance of this Certificate).   It was Taylor who renamed the club the “Red Sox;” until 1908 they were known as the Boston Americans.  Taylor’s father, Charles H. Taylor was publisher of The Boston Globe at the time, succeeded by John’s brother William.  John Taylor was enshrined in the Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2012.

The other signature at the front bottom left is that of Robert B. McRoy, Treasurer.  McRoy was previously Secretary of the American League under President Ban Johnson, who assigned him to work for the Red Sox.  

In verso, the Certificate is signed by Frank Cooper, the original share owner, Joseph J. Lannin, who purchased this share from Cooper, and another unknown person involved in the share transfer.  Lannin, a self-made Boston real estate and commodities investor purchased 50% share ownership in the Red Sox on December 21, 2013, the day after this share listed here was issued.  The following year, he bought out John Taylor's remaining ownership shares and became sole owner of the Red Sox.  It was he who made the deal to bring Babe Ruth to the Red Sox later that year, and in both 1915 and 1916, the Red Sox won the World Series.  Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, it was also he who sold the club to new owner Harry Frazee in 1918; Frazee soon after sold Ruth to the Yankees to finance his Broadway production ambitions.  Doh!

Overall, the Certificate is in Very Good condition.  The Certificate has black ink on the front evidencing the Cancellation of the share and exchange for an Account Number at an unknown date. This writing overlaps the Share Owner and Share Amount fields and cuts diagonally across the right side of the vignette.  There is additional writing in the upper right corner which occludes part of the Orange border.  The right side corners are were either cut or clean-torn diagonal, not square, with some slight edge damage and light foxing at the upper left corner.  There appears to be some light fading about 1/16" in from the right edge.  And as is often seen with certificates of this age, here are three vertical folds, one at center and one each equidistant from the two sides, most likely from folding and mailing in a letter envelope, quite common with vintage scripophily; the center fold appears to be the most worn.  But even with these minor defects, the Certificate is otherwise very clean and highly display-worthy.

The Certificate measures exactly 12-1/4 inches x 9 inches.

If you are a Red Sox fan, don’t miss out on owning this exciting piece of Boston baseball history! The stories this simple document can tell!

This item comes from my smoke-free home and will ship via insured USPS Priority Mail in the U.S. and through eBay’s Global Shipping Service to an international buyer.