Stock and Bond Certificates, Old

An old stock or bond certificate may still be valuable even if it no longer trades under the name printed on the certificate. The company may have merged with another company or simply changed its name. You can use the resources below to find out if an old stock or bond certificate has value. Even if you learn that a certificate has no value, you may find that the certificate itself has value as a collectable.

These resources may be found on the Internet, at public libraries, stock exchanges, or stockbrokers' offices. But please note that the SEC cannot recommend or endorse any of these entities, their personnel, or their products or services.

Scripophily.com. The company is named after the hobby of collecting old stock and bond certificates. For a fee, Scripophily.com researches whether your stock or bond certificate has any value. The company also is a large buyer and seller of collectable certificates, with a list and images of more than 18,500 different companies.

Financial Stock Guide Service. Published by Financial Information, Inc. since 1927, this comprehensive guide is a good starting point for all research on old stock certificates. This listing, updated annually, contains a directory of actively traded stocks and obsolete securities.

Robert D. Fisher Manual of Valuable & Worthless Securities. Published by R.M. Smythe & Co., Inc. (Now Scripophily.com) , this is a multi-volume resource that is particularly helpful guide if you are trying to trace the value of very old stock certificates. Scripophily.com /OldCompany.com will research your certificate for a fee.

Moody's Industrial Manual and Moody's OTC Industrial Manual. Published by Mergent Company, these manuals give brief summaries of companies' histories, backgrounds, mergers and acquisitions, subsidiaries, principal plants, and properties. This guide is updated annually. You can learn how to obtain a subscription to the manuals by calling (800) 342-5647.

National Stock Summary. Published by the Pink Sheets LLC, this monthly publication summarizes all over-the-counter and inactive listed stock offerings. It also includes the recent prices of such securities, as they have appeared either in the national daily quotation services or in the leading daily newspapers and financial periodicals. The Pink Sheets will research your certificate for a fee.