Scarcity, History, and Artwork of Paper Stock Certificates Make Unique Holiday Gifts from Scripophily.com and GiveAshare.com

FAIRFAX, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Authentic paper stock certificates make terrific holiday gifts – especially this year as the financial industry’s movement toward electronic registration is poised to make paper certificates obsolete.

“Our 2011 Stock Certificate Calendar is also a popular item during the holiday season.”

According to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, paper stock certificates cost companies, investors, banks and brokers hundreds of millions of dollars each year to print, register, ship, examine, file and keep safe, so as a cost cutting measure, they are moving to digital ownership. Furthermore, as of the beginning of 2009, stock brokers are no longer delivering paper stock certificates or they are charging a large disincentive fee. This has drastically reduced the number of stock certificates in circulation.

In recognition of this trend, Scripophily.com and GiveAshare.com announce that they have teamed together to offer the world’s largest stock certificate inventory covering both active and defunct companies.

GiveAshare.com sells one share stock certificates in active companies like Disney, Harley-Davidson, Berkshire Hathaway and over 100 other companies that still offer paper certificates. The recipient becomes an actual shareholder of the company AND gets the authentic stock certificate.

For companies that no longer issue stock certificates, you can go to Scripophily.com where there is a selection of over 17,000 items to choose from. “Our most popular certificates, for entities that no longer exist, include General Motors, Enron, Pixar, Standard Oil Trust (signed by John D. Rockefeller), Panama Canal, Liberty Loan Bonds, Confederate States Bonds, and many others” according to Bob Kerstein, CPA Founder of Scripophily.com. “Our 2011 Stock Certificate Calendar is also a popular item during the holiday season.” added Kerstein.

Scripophily [scrip-ah-fil-ly] is the hobby’s name of collecting old stock and bond certificates. Values range from a few dollars to more than $130,000 for the rarest. Tens of thousands of Scripophily buyers worldwide include casual collectors, corporate archives, museums and serious collectors. Mergers, bankruptcies, and the movement toward electronic registration have increased the interest level in Scripophily and collectible value of stock certificates

Over at GiveAshare.com, business is up as people rush to get paper certificates while they still can. “Playboy is the perfect example - demand is high because the company may go private, and having Hefner’s printed signature on the certificate doesn’t hurt,” says Rick Roman, founder of GiveAshare.com.

“Our customers benefit from our teaming arrangement because many are looking for stocks we no longer carry like Pixar (merged with Disney) and General Motors. Now we point them to Scripophily.com,” said Roman. “Not only does Scripophily.com have the largest inventory of collectible stock certificates on the internet, Bob is also a recognized expert in the field of collecting stock and bond certificates,” added Roman.

According to Bob Kerstein, “Many of my customers are interested in buying stock gifts in actively traded companies - GiveAshare.com has made this very easy to do - two minutes and they’re done. We are always referring people to GiveAshare.com because they are a company we can trust.”

About Scripophily.com LLC, The Gift of History, is the internet’s leading buyer and seller of collectible stock and bond certificates and other old paper items and has had items on loan for display in the Smithsonian’s Museum of Financial History in New York, been featured on CNBC, USA Today, Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and in many other media publications. The company, a member of the Better Business Bureau, offers an old stock research service at OldCompany.com and also offers high resolution scans for publications. Scripophily.com was founded by Bob Kerstein, CPA (bob.com) who has more than 30 years of senior management experience in the Cellular, Cable TV, Satellite, Internet, Professional Sports and Entertainment Industries. Bob is also the President of the Professional Scripophily Traders Association (PSTA.com).

About GiveAshare.com

GiveAshare.com sells actual one share ownership in over 100 world famous companies. Favorites: Walt Disney stock, Berkshire Hathaway stock, Harley-Davidson stock, and even Playboy stock. It takes just two minutes and a credit card to buy a stock gift. The recipient gets the authentic registered stock certificate and becomes a real shareholder of the company entitled to declared dividends, annual reports, invitations to the shareholder meeting, and any other perks. It turns out that this is a powerful teaching tool for kids especially when you buy a share of a company they love and supplement it with the company’s I’m A Shareholder KIT.