1795 Stock Certificate No. American Land Co. Signed by Robert Morris

The listing

This Share Certificate issued to William Temple Franklin (grandson of Benjamin Franklin) dated 2/20/1795 represents 10 shares in the North American Land Company, signed by Robert Morris (signer of Declaration of Independence & financier of the American Revolution) and James Marshall (brother of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall) is a rare piece of U.S. history. The North Atlantic Land Company was the first land trust started in America and remains the largest issue still today. It measures 12" x 10"and is matted (acid-free) and framed with a picture of Robert Marshall measuring 27" x 18" in total. Condition is very good for a 228 year old document. Only 10 certificates were issued, so very few of these are still around. It is a true rarity. This particular certificate for 10 shares, one of two issued to William Temple Franklin was cancelled and a second was issued to him for 5 shares. This was done to accommodate a new certificate holder. The other named shareholders , James Greenleaf, Enoch Edwards and James Reese are historically obscure figures, while William Temple Franklin, as his grandfather's secretary in France while an aid agreement was being negotiated for the Continental Congress, and later as the scion of the Franklin holdings is a key historical figure. Temple Franklin's father, William Franklin was the Tory governor of the Colony of NJ, who fled to England before the Declaration of Independence. and was estranged from the patriot Benjamin Franklin. Your chance to own a rare and significant piece of American history, with signers of the Declaration of Independence.