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Auction: 1004 - Bonds & Shares of The World
Lot: 627

Price´s Patent Candle Company, £20 share, 1848, no.9732, signed by William Wilson as director, black, red endorsement on face, showing shares fully paid, on good quality watermarked paper, good very fine Estimate £ 80 Wilson and his partner started making candles in 1830 and formed this company in 1847. Interestingly Price was a ficticious name so that Wilson, a Respectable Russia merchant would not be associated with such a ´common´ trade. By the 1890´s it had become the largest candle maker in the world, holding 114 patents for their manufacture. The company continued to grow despite the advent of gas and electric lighting and found new ways to make and sell their products. They also entered the lubricating oil business. Taken over by Lever Brothers in 1919 but a few years later formed a new company, jointly with Shell, BP and Burmah Oil - Candles Ltd - to acquire the Price Candle business. Shell finally sold Candles Ltd in 1991 and Prices became a private Limited Liability company. It is now owned by an Italian concern but trading still as Price´s Patent Candle Co. Ltd.

Sold for
£60