Expert: Steven Taylor - 12/16/2009

Question
in the late 80's early 90's i held some gold stocks.
i lost the certificates since then.
how can i enquire if i have any stocks still pending
thanks

Answer
You don't need the certificates to own the shares - the transfer agent keeps the official records of ownership of a company, so they will know if you own shares or not. However, you absolutely need the name of the stocks you owned in order to find the transfer agent. If you can come up with anything with the name of the companies you owned, you have a good chance of finding the agent and determining if you have anything of value. However, without the names, you have no chance. Sorry.