Cornelius Vanderbilt Signed New York and Harlem Rail Road Company Stock Certificate.

VANDERBILT, Cornelius.

$16,000.00

Item Number: 146773

New York: American Bank Note Co, 1864.

Rare New York and Harlem Rail Road Company stock certificate signed by one of the wealthiest Americans in history, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Oblong octavo, one page partially printed and accomplished in manuscript, the certificate is dated April 12, 1864 and grants John M. Dobin 500 shares in the New York and Harlem Railroad Company. Signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt on the verso. In near fine condition. Matted and framed with a portrait of Vanderbilt and an informational placard. The piece measures 17.6 inches by 28 inches.

"Contemporaries, too, often hated or feared Vanderbilt or at least considered him an unmannered brute. While Vanderbilt could be a rascal, combative and cunning, he was much more a builder than a wrecker [...] being honorable, shrewd, and hard-working" (H. Roger Grant). From adolescence, Cornelius Vanderbilt showed signs of entrepreneurial spirit, starting his own ferry service at just 16. In those starting years, Vanderbilt's voraciousness earned him the nickname "The Commodore," telegraphing what the future might bring for such an industrious young man. With enough time, "The Commodore" succeeded in organizing a steamboat freight empire and began expanding into the railroad industry with his purchase of stock in the New York and Harlem Rail Road Company line, one of the first railroads in the United States. His goal was to take the railroad, which was generally considered worthless, and make it valuable. Five years later, after much work, he consolidated it with the Hudson River RR to form the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, one of the first giant corporations in United States history. "[Vanderbilt] vastly improved and expanded the nation's transportation infrastructure, contributing to a transformation of the very geography of the United States. He embraced new technologies and new forms of business organization, and used them to compete....He helped to create the corporate economy that would define the United States into the 21st century" (T. J. Stiles, 'The First Tycoon').