Philco Corporation - Vignette of Benjamin Franklin - 1950's-60's dated Stock Certificate

Stock printed by American Bank Note Co. Superb vignette of Benjamin Franklin. Exceptional!! Philco, which stands for Philadelphia Battery Company, is an American electronics manufacturer based in Philadelphia. The company was a trailblazer in the production of batteries, radios, and televisions. 

In 1961, Ford acquired Philco, and from 1966 onwards, it was rebranded as "Philco-Ford." Ford divested the company to GTE in 1974, and in 1981, Philips purchased it, subsequently making it a subsidiary of the Dutch corporation Philips in 1987. In North America, the Philco brand is managed by Philips, while in other regions, the Philco International brand is under the ownership of Electrolux. 

During the early 1920s, Philco produced storage batteries, "socket power" battery eliminators (plug-in transformers), and battery chargers. The advent of the rectifier tube in 1928, which enabled radios to be powered through electrical outlets, marked Philco's entry into the radio industry. They joined other radio manufacturers such as RCA, Atwater-Kent, Zenith Electronics, Freshman Masterpiece, FADA Radio (Frank A. D'Andrea Radio), and AH Grebe in the battery-powered radio market. By the end of 1930, Philco was selling more radios than any other manufacturer, a lead they maintained for over two decades. 

Philco produced numerous iconic radios and television sets, including the classic cathedral-shaped wooden radio from the 1930s, known as the "Baby Grand," and the Predicta series of television receivers from the 1950s. Philo Farnsworth, recognized for inventing the first fully functional all-electronic television system (U.S. patent 1,773,980, filed January 7, 1927), was employed at Philco from 1931 to 1933.