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CA - Mariposa,June 12, 1869 - Mariposa Company Stock Certificate

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Western Americana Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 500.00 USD
CA - Mariposa,June 12, 1869 - Mariposa Company Stock Certificate
Session D is a Mail-Bid Only Auction. Absentee bids will be accepted only. No live bidding will be allowed. All winners will be contacted after the auction. BIDDING ENDS MONDAY JUNE 27 AT 5PM PACIFIC TIME!!!
Incorporated in New York in 1863. Cert. #4732 issued to Wheeler & Peters for 50 shares. Signed by Philip W. Holmes, president, and James H. Ferdow, secretary. Vignette at top of miners shoveling ore at a mill. The printed seal has a butterfly (“mariposa”) at its center. Black border and print. Two 25ct. revenue stamps on the left side of both the certificate and attached bottom stub. U/C. Printer: J.O. Seymour & Co., N.Y. 9 ½” x 11.” John C. Fremont, “the Pathfinder,” originally purchased the Mariposa Estate in 1847 and sold it in January of 1863 to Morris Ketchum, a banker from New York, in order to dig himself out of debt. Ketchum formed the Mariposa Company as a public corporation, sold stock, and convinced noted New York architect Frederick Law Olmsted to be the superintendent. Fremont was one of the original directors. Olmsted was no mining expert and, after huge investments were made in tunnels, shafts, stamp mills and other infrastructure, the company went bankrupt. Olmsted returned to New York and the mines were sold at a sheriff’s sale [Ref: The Call of Gold: True Tales on the Gold Road to Yosemite, by Newell D. Chamberlain, Gazette Press, 1936]. The company went on to issue stocks in 1870 and 1871 under the same name but eventually it changed names. The successor company was Mariposa Land & Mining Co., which incorporated in California [Ref: Holabird, The Alexandra Tillson Filer Collection Part I: Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, p. 90, 2000].