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1794 ROBERT MORRIS Signer Asylum Company Stock Certificate + ALL 3 US Documents!

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:2,400.00 USD Estimated At:3,000.00 - 4,000.00 USD
1794 ROBERT MORRIS Signer Asylum Company Stock Certificate + ALL 3 US Documents!
Autographs
Robert Morris Signed Asylum Company Stock Certificate a.k.a. “The First R.E.I.T.” Declaration Signer known as "The Financier of the American Revolution" Rarity
ROBERT MORRIS (1734-1806). Signer of the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation & the United States Constitution, Revolutionary War financier often called "The Financier of the American Revolution," and Federal Period Land speculator.
November 28th, 1794-Dated Federal Period, Partially-Printed Document Signed, “Robert Morris” as President, Asylum Company, Issued Stock Certificate Number 420, One Share, Philadelphia, Fine. This large Certificate Folio, measures 16” x 10”, 4 pages (bifolium), Letterpress Typeset, printed by Zachariah Poulson, Junior, 80 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia on heavy laid period paper. This Document is fully completed and boldly Signed by hand “Robert Morris”.

This rare form Certifying that, “John Nicholson Esquire of Philadelphia (1757-1800) (financier, land speculator, and Comptroller General of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794 and manager of the Asylum Company) is entitled to One Share of the Asylum Company equivalent of two hundred acres of land.” Boldly Signed by Robert Morris as President of the Company, and James Duncan, as Secretary both being in deep rich brown ink. This Document has early paper conservation strips to reinforce along the horizontal folds reinforcing the paper and hinging. The facing sheet is even in moderate tone with some scattered soiling, its outer edges chipped. The heavy laid period paper is somewhat delicate yet displays Morris’s 2.25” long signature very boldly. This is a well known, highly collected rare and historically important item to Stock and Bond collectors. It may be of special interest due to its being noted as (Number 7) “No 7” handwritten at the top edge of the front page and being made to the name of Morris’s business venture partner, John Nicholson.

This 1794 Stock Certificate is for One Share, “in the entire property of the Asylum Company.” The Asylum Company was originally formed in 1794 by a group headed by Robert Morris and John Nicholson. That company was formed to create a colony for French refugees including King Louis XVI Marie Antoinette, and other elite members of the overthrown French government who were displaced due to the French Revolution. The company never materialized. However, in 1801, the company was reorganized after both founders, Nicholson and Morris went bankrupt. Following the reorganization, the company was headed by a group of Philadelphia Merchants. This original Share Certificate is Signed by Morris as President of the company.

Robert Morris first gained attention when he headed two of the Continental Congress' most important Committees (1776-1778), one to obtain Revolutionary War materials, and the other to instruct Overseas Diplomats. He was one of the best known merchants in the colonies, and thus his business experience led to his appointment as Superintendent of Finance in 1781 for the Continental Congress. Morris' shrewdness and personal reputation were enough to secure the funds required for the colonies to successfully prosecute the War against Britain. He left the Continental Congress government in 1783, and served as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania 1789-1795. Even before leaving the Senate, however, Morris, in partnership with others such as John Nicholson, became heavily involved in land speculation. The pair believing that there was a fortune to be made by selling land in the growing United States. The demand for land, however, was not what Morris had hoped for, and eventually he was unable to pay his massive debts and he went bankrupt, spending 1798-1801 in Debtor's Prison.

November 28th, 1794-Dated, Partially-Printed Document Signed, “Robert Morris” as President, Asylum Company, Issued Stock Certificate, Number 420, One Share, Philadelphia, Fine. This large size Certificate Folio, measuring 16” x 10”, bifolium, typeset printed by letterpress on heavy laid period paper, completed and signed by hand. Certifying that John Nicholson Esquire of Philadelphia (1757-1800) (financier, land speculator, and Comptroller General of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794 and manager of the Asylum Company) is entitled to One Share of the Asylum Company equivalent of two hundred acres of land. Boldly Signed by Robert Morris as President of the Company, and James Duncan, as Secretary in deep rich brown ink. This Document archivally conserved to reinforce along the horizontal folds, front sheet evenly toned with some scattered soiling, outer edges chipped, and the paper is somewhat delicate. Very rare and historically important, being of special interest due to its being noted as (Number) “No 7” that is handwritten at top of the front page, and being made to none other than Morris’s business venture partner, John Nicholson.

Robert Morris was also involved with the “North American Land Company” which is considered the largest land trust in American History, and is one of the first publicly traded Real Estate companies. This Robert Morris Signed, “Asylum Company” Stock Certificate is considered by financial related collectors as very rare and desirable.
Infortmational Note: THE NORTH AMERICAN LAND COMPANY - THE FIRST R.E.I.T.

by JAMES J. REIS

A little known story in American History is that of Robert Morris and his involvement with the North American Land Company. The N.A.L.C. was, and is considered, the largest land trust in American History, and is one of the first publicly traded Real Estate companies.

In the mid 1700’s Morris, an extremely wealthy Philadelphia merchant, backed the Continentals from the onset against his native countrymen, England. If the Colonies had lost their effort for independence, we would certainly live in a different world today.

Morris, known as the “Financier of the American Revolution,” found inventive ways to fund the Revolution, and; kept his friend George Washington and his troops fed, clothed, and armed during the long war with England. In the end, the Americans prevailed.

No doubt feeling exuberant after the war, Morris turned from a Merchant Prince to become a banker, and subsequently Real Estate Investor. Always the entrepreneur, Morris founded the Bank of North America, the first commercial bank in the United States. Never lacking for new business interest, by the late 1780’s he was a huge landowner and speculator. He believed in European expansionism to the Americas and purchased inexpensive land in rural Pennsylvania and New York for as little as 10 cents an acre.

Pretty soon he was in the same situation that many Real Estate Investors were in during the late 1980’s, and he started to look for a way to settle with his creditors. Instead of calling it quits and doing what he should have done by going back into the Mercantile Trade Business, he bought more and more real estate along the Appalachian Mountain chain from Pennsylvania to Georgia.

By the mid 1790’s Morris and 2 of his partners, James Greenleaf and John Nicholson, pooled their land and formed what must have been a very novel idea in its day, a land company called the North American Land Company. The purpose was to raise money by selling stock secured by the real estate. Six million acres were put into the trust in rural Pennsylvania, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Kentucky. Formed on February 20, 1795 the partnership set out to sell stock for $100 per share. Every share represented 200 acres of real estate. Before you bought the land you got a prospectus, which outlined the company objectives and benefits. The stock promised a return of 6% per annum for 15 years at which time the land hopefully would have appreciated and the accrued value would have been given to the shareholders.

Well, like the late 1980’s the 1780’s looked like a real estate boom, but by the mid to late 1790’s real estate investment was a bust. Rural locations and timing certainly added to the real estate bust. Morris sent his son-in-law, James Marshall (the brother of Chief Justice John Marshall), to Europe to sell stock. Things did not go well for Marshall and the other agents, as Europe was gearing up for the Napoleonic Wars, and real estate speculation was not to be trusted. Morris also had serious problems with poor titles and creditors looking for payment. Things looked pretty bleak for Morris by 1797. So bleak that he was house prisoner in his own home “The Hills,” which is near Boat House Row along side the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia.

Morris finally gave in, left his wife and six grown children, and went off to an unknown future in Debtors Prison. To think that someone who was once the wealthiest man in America, now in his 60’s, someone who signed the two most important documents in History, the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence was now off to fend for himself in prison. Entering prison in February 1798, he writes to his creditors and partners often up to 10 to 20 times a day. In a personal letter to his son Thomas he asked how his wife and son William were doing (during the yellow fever epidemic of 1798 that killed 10% of the Philadelphia population). Two weeks later his grown son and business associate William was dead from the epidemic.

Morris languished in prison for 3 ½ years while his partner, John Nicholson, died there less than a year after entering prison and his other partner James Greenleaf spent one year in prison.

Morris was the Merchant Prince who died in 1806, a pauper, in a rented house while being subsidized by a pension or annuity given to his wife Mary from the Holland Land Company in compensation for her signing away her dower rights to land.

The Incredible Story of The North American Land Company and Its Founder Robert Morris

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The Players:

Robert Morris

Signer of the Declaration of Independence

Signer of the US Constitution

Signer of the Articles of Confederation

Helped finance the American Revolution

Founder of the first commercial bank in the United States

James Greenleaf

Former consulate of the United States at Amsterdam

John Nicholson

Comptroller General of Pennsylvania

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Purpose of N.A.L.C.:

A real estate venture intended to sell shares of stock secured by 6,000,000 acres of real estate in 6 states. Cash received helped pay the mounting debts owed to creditors.

Pennsylvania: 647,046 acres

North Carolina: 717,299 acres

South Carolina: 957,238 acres

Virginia: 932,621 acres

Georgia: 2,314,796 acres

Kentucky: 431,043 acres

Total: 6,000,043 acres

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Intention of Investment:

To sell 30,000 shares of stock for $1.00/share and a 6% dividend with a land sale distribution after 15 years.

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Why it is important:

This is one of the 1st publicly traded real estate companies in America (the first R.E.I.T.).

Many players in the land company were prominent colonial Americans and their signatures appear in this collection.

Clement Biddle – Revolutionary War General

William Bingham -US Senator, Speaker of the House of Representatives

AJ Dallas – Secretary of Treasury under President Madison

Thomas Fitzimmons – Signer of the U.S. Constitution

John Lawrence – Congressman from New York City

Thomas Mifflin – Governor of Pennsylvania, Signer of the U.S. Constitution and President of the Continental Congress

Robert Morris – Financer of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Signer of the Article of Confederation and Signer of the U.S. Constitution

Richard Rush – Secretary of the Treasury from 1825-1828

Benjamin Say – U.S. Congressman and General from Pennsylvania

Richard Dobbs Spaight – Signer of the U.S. Constitution and a North Carolina Governor

Walter Stewart – Revolutionary War General

James Trimble – Governor of Pennsylvania