Comments on: How to Buy a Single Share of Stock Certificate

By: Karen

Karen — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:47:12 +0000

I am looking to get a paper stock certificate for my husband from Apple anyone have a lead on that? Apple themselves are no longer issuing paper certificates.

By: I don't know

I don't know — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 06:32:12 +0000

They are usually bearer certificates, which mean they are good for whomever has possession of them at a given time.

By: sarah

sarah — Fri, 07 May 2010 03:43:41 +0000

I bought my husband stock in 2001. A friend had an e-trade account and purchased it for me and then gave me the certificates signed over to my husband. I just discovered he never changed the name over to his name because he didn’t know how…can anyone give advice..Are they still good? How do we transfer them to his name if they are? My friend signed them on the back and put our info so I am lost at what to do.

thanks

By: mikestreb

mikestreb — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 17:08:09 +0000

I would love to own a few paper certificates, but can’t bring myself to spend their outrageous fee for a novelty item.

By: Hank

Hank — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 17:14:08 +0000

This is great information that is definitely needed. If you want to participate in buying shares directly from the company through DRIPs (Dividend Reinvestment Plans), you have the own the share in your name and not in street name. The price you pay through the transfer agent may be worth it to skip paying commissions on stock trades.

By: eric

eric — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:36:52 +0000

scripophily–word of the day!

By: Bender

Bender — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 03:09:15 +0000

A couple of notes –

1. Not all companies use a third-party transfer agent, some do it themselves.

2. Delaware law not allows companies to “go paperless” which means, they can just go with paperless certificates if they’ve modified their organizational documents.

3. When stock is in true “street name” it means it held by “Cede &Co.” the nominee of the DTC. The DTC records each institutions positions on a “securities position listing”. Alternatively, the stock may be direct registered with the transfer agent.

@Cheap Bastard – it doesn’t matter whether you “agreed” with the Oracle take over, it was approved by the Sun shareholders on July 16, 2009. Had you held a physical certificate, they would make you send it in before you got the money.

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:20:08 +0000

I don’t know this for sure but I would suspect that you would be legally required to sell your shares of Sun Microsystems to Oracle and it would be incumbent on you to get the certificate to Oracle (or the transfer agent).

That’s a clever idea about the forex thing though I’m sure there are fees in place to take care of that bit of creativity!

By: Cheap Bastard

Cheap Bastard — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:03:33 +0000

My Sun (“JAVA”) shares vaporized when Oracle took over. They were simply sold without my consent, at a price I didn’t agree to. Plus they snatched an administrative fee for the work.

Now suppose I had physical Sun Microsystems certificates. Would Oracle have had to contact me personally to try to buy the shares?

What other practical applications are there? Could this be a way to change currencies w/out a forex fee? Eg. sell USD-bought stock for euros?

By: SuperDan

SuperDan — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:54:10 +0000

Although it is pricey… it is still neat to have the actual stock… but there are down falls too.
For my son’s first Christmas, 4 years ago my uncle bought him a stock of Harley Davidson *the market for them was right at their stock was up arod $75 if I remember, and he got it for him through OneShare… very nice looking and its been hanging on his wall ever since.. but also the markets turned and now there isnt much there but at about $25 a share now… but we can, and do, now send in more cash everyonce in awhile and buy more shares, but you dont get the paper ones anymore, just showing we own that many shares.

*Also, my Daughter has the one you have pictured hanging in her room, as we bought it for her when she was born… Disneys downfall to this though… you cannot just buy “One”share after your initial purchase, they must be purchased in $100 incriments…

all in all.. yes a novelty gift, but.. also something different

By: jsbrendog

jsbrendog — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:31:57 +0000

is inbev private? if they bought it out he might be able to get his payment from the sale. that’s what happened to me and the stock i had when the company got purchased. It got taken private though if i remember correctly so you would need to go digging to find out details. I’m sure google would be able to oblige

By: jsbrendog

jsbrendog — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:29:29 +0000

eh i dunno..it is gm. they just shut down hummer brand so you’d probably get an old H2. who wants one of those? (although they did just sell the brand off didn’t they?)

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 19:15:31 +0000

I used to work in Shareholder Accounting and we charged $250 anytime we needed to transfer/exchange a paper certificate.

By: Shirley

Shirley — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:45:07 +0000

I really like this idea! And having the tangible piece of paper makes it “real” to a child. Can you imagine the oohs and aahs if it went to school show-and-tell with the statement, “I own part of DisneyWorld”? LOL

By: Kosmo @ The Casual Observer

Kosmo @ The Casual Observer — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:14:41 +0000

If GM would send you a car once a year, it could be worth the effort.