5090

William S. Pierson

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:75.00 - 150.00 USD
William S. Pierson
<B>William S. Pierson </B>(NY) 1846. Share certificate. Unissued. Black on blue paper. An extremely unusual piece of history. <B>EF</B>. <BR>    This was a classical scam, in an era marked by some ingenious examples of that art form. Abraham G. Thompson claimed to have a map marking the location where Captain Kidd had sunk a vessel containing his loot. Since Kidd did his looting in the Indian Ocean, and such money as he got (he was a notoriously incompetent pirate) was spent there, this was pure fiction that could only fool the ignorant. To give credit to this otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative, the site in the Hudson River near Dunderberg mountain was salted with some treasure pieces which the promoter claimed to have fished up. The scheme gave total discretion to the promoters as to how the funds were to be spent, thus giving the shareholders no recourse to recover their subscription. The chief purpose of this scheme was to pocket the down payment of $25 per share.