Item HT 25775.9 Share Certificate Book - Kodak Archive, Series 7, 'Shares & Shareholders', Australian Kodak Limited Share Certificates, 1908 - 1910

Summary

Kodak Archive
Series 7 - 'Shares and Shareholders'

Share certificate book containing 250 share certificates numbered 251 to 500 for 'Australian Kodak Limited', a company created through the merger of 'Eastman Kodak Company' and 'Baker & Rouse' in 1908. The final 49,900 of the 150,000 original allocations of shares for Australian Kodak Limited were issued in 1908 from this book, and subsequent transfers until the end of 1910. The stubs name Directors Thomas Baker and John Joseph Rouse, their family members (Anna Rouse, Baker's wife Alice Baker and her relatives Eleanor and Alfred Shaw) and 'Eastman Kodak Company' as sole recipients of these original shares, and many employees as recipients of transfers.

The book shows the movement of ownership of the company's shares (valued at £1 each) over time through the transfer of certificates. Share certificates 251 to 490 have been torn out leaving behind the stub. Pages 491 to 499 are blank. Certificate 500 has been torn out and sent to the stock exchange. Approximately 80% of certificates have been adhered back into the share book and stamped as cancelled. These certificates are split into either smaller shares or transferred to new holders and adhered to either their original stub or the stub of a new certificate.

This document belongs to the 'Shares and Shareholders' series which consists of share registers, share certificates, correspondence and shareholder lists, ranging in dates from 1908 to 1998. It is part of the Kodak Heritage Collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd in 2005, when the Melbourne manufacturing plant at Coburg closed down.

Kodak Australasia Pty Ltd manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers, as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

Physical Description

Book with grey-green cardboard covers and burgundy leatherette binding. The front cover shows a handwritten number '2' enclosed by a circle. On the lower right corner of the cover's inside is a printers red and white circular 29-point star sticker with a number handwritten in the centre. Pages are perforated between stub and certifcate and certificate numbers 251 to 490 have been removed with inscribed stubs remaining. Certificate numbers 491 to 499 are blank. Final certificate 500 was removed and sent to the stock exchange. Approximately 80% of certificates have been adhered back into the share book. Certificates and stubs are printed in navy blue ink and certificate numbers stamped in black ink (as part of the original creation of the ledger). Cancelled certificates are also embossed with a stamp, stamped with a purple 'CANCELLED' stamp 0 to 3 times and hole-punched 'CANCELLED' 1 to 5 times. A few certificates have an additional handwritten 'Cancelled' in red or black ink. All other handwritten text is in black ink. Additions include approximately 20 receipts for certificates adhered to stubs, 10 stamps and 1 letter adhered to stub 457 giving authorisation to the bearer to retrieve a certificate.