Scripophily

A term coined in the mid-1970s to describe the hobby of collecting antique bonds, stocks and other financial instruments. Values are affected by beauty of the certificate and the issuer's role in world finance and economic development.

Scripophily, the collecting of canceled old stocks and bonds, gained recognition as a hobby around 1970. The word "scripophily" was coined by combining words from English and Greek. The word "scrip" represents an ownership right and the word "philos" means to love. Today there are thousands of collectors worldwide (Scripophilists or Scripophiliacs) in search of scarce, rare, and popular stocks and bonds.

A lot of companies either were never successful or went bankrupt, so that their certificates became worthless pieces of paper until the hobby of scripophily began.

With the existence of the Internet, more and more stocks and bonds are issued electronically, meaning fewer paper certificates are issued as a percentage of actual stock issued. However, the Internet has also played a major role in creating awareness of the hobby as can be seen at Scripophily.com.