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Auction: SW1014 - Bonds & Share Certificates of the World
Lot: 326

Merchants Despatch Transportation Company. 200 Shares $100 each, New York, 27 March 1873. #87. First share type issued. Signed by James Congdell Fargo (1829-1915) as President. The Merchants Despatch Transportation Company was established at end of the 1850s by the American Express Company of New York. It was changed into as a joint stock trading company in 1869, with ownership divided among four railways, the Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Indianapolis Railway (CCC&I), the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, and the New York Central Railroad (NYC), all part of the Cornelius Vanderbilt rail empire. The MDT entered the refrigerated transit business in around 1880, and within five years had 1900 reefers in service, making it one of the largest refrigerated transport companies in the United States. In 1883 it also started manufacturing transport wagons. In 1844 James Congdell Fargo started to work for his brother William Fargo, who was running express lines between Buffalo and Detroit, Michigan & Albany, New York. In 1851 the company was organized as Wells, Fargo & Co. and in 1855 James was co-founder of the American Express Company. In 1867 he took over the position of General Manager of the American Express Company and was at the same time President of the Merchant Despatch Transportation Company. In 1881 he became the third president of American Express after William's death in 1881. At the end of the 1880s Fargo invented the American Express Travelers Cheque. VF.

Estimate
SFr400 to SFr500