How to Tell If An Antique Stock Certificate Is Valuable

There are several things to consider when determining if a very old stock certificate is valuable. You will need to determine which company the stock was issued for and, since over time companies go through mergers, name changes and spinoffs, that is not always a straightforward process. Typically, holding a share of stock would entitle you to a certain amount of shares in an acquiring company. Once you know the name of the company that exists today, you can use Yahoo Finance to find the current share price of the stock. If the company has been acquired, however, you will not know the equivalent amount of shares you now hold in the new company.

Things You'll Need

• Stock certificate

Instructions

1. Determine the current name of the company. This should be on the face of the certificate. Examine the stock certificate and find the name of the company that issued the stock. Then visit Yahoo Finance, and search under the company name and determine if it is still in existence or was purchased by another company.

2. Find the CUSIP number. Each stock has a unique identifier called a CUSIP (Committee on Uniform Security Identification Procedures) number, which is a nine digit alphanumeric code, this will help identify the company if the name on the stock is no longer valid.

3. Find the stock price. Once you know the CUSIP or company name of the current existing company, you can use Yahoo Finance to quickly determine the stock's price.

4. Contact a broker. Once you know that the stock has value, any broker should be able and willing to sell if for you, or convert it to book-entry form. Most stocks are held electronically rather than in physical form for ease of transactions.

References

• Yahoo Finance