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Auction: 323 - The Numismatic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 1523

Knickerbocker Anthracite Coal Co. (Pennsylvania) December 2nd, 1865. Philadelphia. 10 shares. No.1480. Signed by Isaac Israel Hayes as president. Coal train on bridge passes mill. Miners and coal car, left. Woodchoppers, right. R-44 25 Cent certificate revenue stamp affixed. American Bank Note Company, printer. Light mounting stains on the back in the corners, minor stain and small piece out of the margin near the lower right corner. Fully issued, not cancelled. Isaac Israel Hayes was an Artic explorer who served as ship's surgeon during Elisha Kent Kane's 1852-53 Arctic expedition in search of John Franklin. In 1861 Hayes mounted his own expedition and claimed to have reached further North than anyone else, but this may have been erroneous. The advent of the Civil War dimmed the public's interest in Artic exploration, and Hayes was placed in charge of the Satterlee Hospital in Philadelphia. His celebrity status as an Artic explorer and Union General may have helped the organizers of Knickerbocker Anthracite Coal Company sell shares to trusting investors. The Hayes autograph is rarely encountered, and is prized by collectors of Artic history.
From the John E. Herzog Collection.

Sold for
$160