Taking Stock

On Kerstein's site, autograph hounds can find Standard Oil Company stock signed by John D. Rockefeller, Eastern Air Lines stock with Captain Eddie Rickenbacker as president and a Buckeye Steel certificate signed by President George Bush's great grandfather, Samuel Prescott Bush.

Losing Stock

Another factor helping the growth of Scripophily is the huge decline in paper-stock issuance, making stock certificates themselves all the more rare.

As a result of legislation designed to foster corporate cost-cutting, only a handful of the 50 U.S. states still require public companies to issue physical certificates.

Stock brokerage firms and many of the issuing companies enthusiastically support this effort, which is known as dematerialization.

The move toward dematerialization seems to be just fine with most investors, who would rather use book-entry stock ownership, in which the issuers record all details of ownership electronically -- it's more convenient than locking stock certificates away in safe-deposit boxes.

According to the Securities Industry Association, book-entry ownership can be accomplished by having the securities held in the investor's account at the broker-dealer, a method known as putting it in "street name."

Another alternative is the use of the direct-registration system, where investors can have their positions electronically recorded by the issuer or at their transfer agent.

AT&T (T) became the first company in the United States to do away with paper certificates. Investors now receive a computer-generated report showing them how many shares they have outstanding.

For the few investors who still prefer holding their shares in physical form, it can be a very expensive proposition.

To go through a stockbroker, says Kerstein, you will have to pay the trading price of the stock, plus the commission the broker charges, plus a stock-issuance fee.

Depending on whom you use as a stockbroker, the commissions can be anywhere from $15 to $50, and the stock-issuance fee can be anywhere from $50 to $100 per certificate.

	Ever-Popular Disney Stock

"Due to the high cost of processing, risk of loss of certificates, handling costs and so on, it is clear the trend is toward the elimination of the paper stock certificate," says Kerstein.

That is certainly helping Kerstein's business.

While the supply of new certificates reaching the collector market is dwindling, the hobby of scripophily continues to grow.

Despite the move toward electronic ownership, one company that may continue printing stock certificates is Disney (DIS). The Disney stock certificate features Walt Disney himself surrounded by his classic characters, and is a popular gift for collectors and noncollectors alike.

Framed single shares of Disney are available for purchase on sites like OneShare.com. The price fluctuates, of course, with the price of the stock itself.

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