Emerson Phonograph Co. - Signed by Victor Hugo Emerson - 1915-16 dated Autograph Stock Certificate (Uncanceled)
Inv# GS1310 Stock
1915-16, New York, Uncanceled Stock. Eagle vignette by Franklin-Lee Bank Note.
Phonograph-related stocks are both uncommon and sought after. Emerson Records was an American record label and company established by Victor Emerson in 1915. Victor Hugo Emerson served as the chief recording engineer at Columbia Records. In 1914, he departed from the company, founded the Emerson Phonograph Company, and subsequently launched Emerson Records the following year. He started producing small records, including 5-inch discs priced at 10 cents and 7-inch discs at 25 cents. The early discs featured popular songs, dance pieces, and patriotic marches, recorded by musicians in New York City, who were referred to as the 'Emerson Orchestra' or occasionally 'The Emerson Symphony Orchestra'. Classical recordings were made by violinist David Hochstein (his sole recordings), pianist Arthur Friedheim, and the orchestra of New York's Rialto Theatre under the direction of Hugo Riesenfeld.
In January 1918, Emerson introduced a line of 9-inch records priced at 75 cents. Following World War I, Emerson embarked on an ambitious expansion of the business, adding a line of industry-standard 10-inch discs for 85 cents in 1919, which increased to one dollar the subsequent year. In 1919, Emerson also launched 12-inch discs, primarily featuring classical music, priced at US$1.25. The label's catalog included recordings by Wilbur Sweatman, Eddie Cantor, the Six Brown Brothers, the Louisiana Five, Lizzie Miles, Eubie Blake, Fletcher Henderson, the Original Memphis Five, John W. Myers, Henry Burr and the Peerless Quartet, Billy Golden, Collins & Harlan, Sally Hamlin, Dan W. Quinn, Sam Ash, Vernon Dalhart, Van and Schenck, Ada Jones, and Homer Rodeheaver. In May 1920, Emerson inaugurated a second recording studio in Los Angeles, California. However, his expansions overextended the company's finances, leading to its receivership in 1921. In May 1922, investors Benjamin Abrams and Rudolph Kararek acquired the Emerson Company for US$50,000 and raised an additional US$200,000 in capital to revitalize the business. Emerson discs were subsequently sold for 50 cents each.
A stock certificate is issued by businesses, usually companies. A stock is part of the permanent finance of a business. Normally, they are never repaid, and the investor can recover his/her money only by selling to another investor. Most stocks, or also called shares, earn dividends, at the business's discretion, depending on how well it has traded. A stockholder or shareholder is a part-owner of the business that issued the stock certificates.
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