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Auction: 324 - The Numismatic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 1530

Standard Oil Trust 1883. 60 shares. Issued, cancelled. No.622. Green. Capitol Building. Issued to George W. Penwarden. Signed by John D. Rockefeller as President, Henry M. Flagler as Secretary, and Jabez A. Bostwick as Treasurer. Green. VF+, with a pen cancel near the vignette, and with unobtrusive machine cancels through the signatures. The Standard Oil Trust was conceived as a way to get around Federal anti-monopoly policies. By 1890 Standard Oil controlled 88% of the refined oil in the United States. In 1892, the state of Ohio successfully sued Standard Oil and broke the Trust. The Trust was then reborn, this time as a holding company. John D. Rockefeller made his fortune by leaving the discovery of oil to the wildcatters and speculators. Instead, he concentrated on the transportation, distribution and sale of petroleum products. He became one of the richest men in the world, building a fortune estimated at close to a billion dollars.

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