Expert: Paul Henneman - 8/5/2008

Question
We have found many old stocks that were bought in the 1930's.  We are curious how to go about tracking them down to see if there was a merge or what to do with them.  Here are some of the titles: Capital Petroleum Company bought 1930 1000 shares, United Empire Gold Mines Company bought 1933 200 shares, Allied Mines & Exploration Company bought 1934 1000 shares, Yankee Gold Corp. bought in 1935 50 shares, and in 1934 50 shares, Western Gold Ventures bought in 1932 1250 shares and Carroll & Company bought in 1930 100 shares.
Any information would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Roxanne

Answer
Roxanne,

Thank you for your question! Unfortunately there is no easy and simple way to go about this, unless the stocks are currently traded. Here are my suggestions on how to track some information down, in the order in which I would try:

1. Visit http://finance.yahoo.com and search by company name to see if they perhaps still trade.

2. They probably don't still trade, but as you say could have merged, been acquired, or simply changed their name. If any of these happened, they still could trade but under a different name. I would suggest going to www.google.com and enter the company name to run a general internet search. It is possible sometimes to find various articles or other references that could put you on track.

3. There are services that you can pay who will do complete searches, and give you a final answer on what has happened to those companies. Here is a link that lists a few of these search services:
http://www.kiplinger.com/features/archives/2008/04/research-stock-certificate-va...
or
http://www.sec.gov/answers/oldcer.htm

The end goal is to find the company, or the current form of the original company, to contact about your shares. Most public companies have an investor relations department if their stock trades on the open markets. If the company is private, you will still need to contact them but finding the correct person to talk to will be more difficult.
Also, those services cost money. Perhaps $30 to $100 per search, and by far the most likely result is that the stock certificates are no longer worth anything. But, there are always exceptions, and you can never be sure.

If all else fails, some certificates have value to collectors. You could check out Ebay, or do a google search for stock ceritificate websites, and post a few questions to see if yours are collectible and have any value in this regard. For example, here is one specialty site along these lines that I found through google:
http://www.stocksearchintl.com/collectibles.html

I hope that the above helps get you pointed in the right direction. Please do not hesitate to follow up with me if I can be of any additional service.

Sincerely,
Paul Henneman
President
ValuEngine Inc
www.ValuEngine.com