How can I tell if an old stock or bond certificate still has value?

An old stock or bond certificate can still have value even if the company no longer trades under the name printed on it, so the certificate is not automatically worthless. To find out, you need to answer four questions: did the company go out of business, is it operating under a different name, was it acquired by another company, and can you reach the current company? Separately, the certificate may have collector value as a piece of scripophily, which is a different question from whether it has financial value.

The two kinds of value to check

Old certificates are judged on two independent tracks. A certificate can fail one and still succeed on the other.

Because these are separate, a certificate from a company that vanished decades ago can still be worth something to collectors even when it has no financial claim behind it.

Questions that decide whether there is a financial claim

The research process comes down to tracing what happened to the issuing company:

• Did the company go out of business? If it was dissolved and its assets wound up, the certificate generally has no ongoing financial claim.
• Is the company in business under a different name? A name change does not erase the company; the successor may still be reachable.
• Was the company acquired by another company? In an acquisition, the surviving or acquiring company may inherit the obligations tied to old certificates.
• How do I get in touch with the current company? Finding the current entity and its contact point is what turns a research question into an actual claim you can pursue.

If you can identify a current company that succeeded the issuer, the next step is contacting that company directly, often through its transfer agent or investor relations function, rather than the name printed on the certificate.

What OldCompany.com does

OldCompany.com is the site of the Old Company Stock Research Service, which researches old stock and bond certificates. According to the site, the service has been researching company stock and bond certificates since 1880 and has been on the Internet since 1996. It is run by Bob Kerstein, a CPA, and the site states the service is the successor to the archives, publishing rights, and copyrights on obsolete research reference material originally published by the Marvyn Scudders Manuals, the Robert D. Fisher Manuals, R.M. Smythe, and the Herzog & Co. obsolete research services.

The site describes the service as useful when you have acquired old stock or bond certificates from anywhere in the world and the company is no longer traded on an exchange or cannot be located on the internet. It also states the company is an Accredited Member of the Better Business Bureau with an A+ rating and advertises "NO HIDDEN FEES."

How to work through a certificate yourself

1. Read the certificate carefully. Note the exact company name as printed, the state or country of incorporation, the date, and any transfer agent or registrar names.
2. Search the current name and known former names. Look for merger, acquisition, name-change, or bankruptcy records.
3. Check whether a successor exists. If the company was acquired, identify the acquiring company and whether it still operates.
4. Contact the current company. Ask specifically about the old certificate and which department or transfer agent handles legacy shareholder records.
5. Assess collector value separately. If there is no financial claim, the certificate may still be of interest to scripophily collectors based on its own characteristics.

Common sticking points

• "It's not on an exchange, so it's worthless." Not correct on its own. A company can be private, renamed, or absorbed and still exist.
• Confusing the two value tracks. A certificate with no financial claim can still have collector value, and a certificate with a possible claim may have little collector interest.
• Stopping at the printed name. The name on the certificate is the starting point, not the answer; the trail usually runs through mergers and name changes.
• Assuming a service is free. The site advertises no hidden fees but does not state that research is free, so confirm cost and scope before ordering.

If you want the company-history research done for you, OldCompany.com offers an online order path for its research service. If you mainly want to know whether the paper itself is collectible, that is a separate appraisal question from the financial one.