Hetty Green Signed Stock Certificate for Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company.

GREEN, Hetty.

$12,500.00

Item Number: 146770

New York: American Bank Note Co., 1902.

Rare Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Company stock certificate signed by the ‘Queen of Wall Street.’ Octavo, one page, the certificate is dated October 6, 1902 and grants Hetty H. R. Green 4 shares in the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. Signed by Green on the verso, “Hetty H. R. Green.” In near fine condition with light diagonal creasing to the lower right corner and signature cancellation hole punches to the left and bottom edges. Matted and framed with a portrait of Green and an informational placard. The piece measures 16 inches by 26.7 inches. Exceptionally rare and desirable.

Hetty Green was the most successful American woman financier of the 19th century and a pioneer of early value investing. Born into a wealthy whaling family, she learned the art of good investment from her father and grandfather. Her admirers referred to her as the "Queen of Wall Street," while her detractors labeled her the "Witch of Wall Street," a cut at her widowhood habit of wearing a single black dress until it was worn out. Even though her inheritance was locked away in a trust fund, she managed to amass a significant fortune through wise investing strategy, and was less vulnerable to the buffeting of the marketplace because her expenses were so few. As a testament to her success and understanding of investment, her willingness to make low-rate loans (with her well-tended reserves of currency) in place of the failing banks during the Panic of 1907 helped bail out Wall Street, New York City, and the United States economy (Will Daniel, Fortune). When she died in 1916, her fortune was estimated between $100 and $200 million, making her the world's richest woman at the time.