Vintage 1970s Dow Chemical 8.5% Debenture Bond 📜 Green Registered Midland Michigan Scripophily

What Did a 1976 Dow Chemical Bond Look Like? 📜 A Dow Chemical Registered Bond from 1976, Engraved in Green

Size: 12" x 8" ~ Issued and cancelled. They vary a little one to the next.

This is a registered corporate bond from The Dow Chemical Company, the 8.50% Debenture Due January 15, 2006, engraved and printed by the American Bank Note Company in a deep green with black lettering. Up top, three muscular classical figures work around a fire, one standing tall in the middle with two seated at his sides, the kind of heroic industry vignette the bank note engravers did best, and down at the bottom sits Dow's round corporate seal. The photographs simply can't capture the true beauty and presence of this piece, you have to see it in person to truly appreciate it.

🏷️ Every Word That Matters

• THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY
• 8.50% DEBENTURE DUE JANUARY 15, 2006, and 8.50% DUE 2006 down both sides
• REGISTERED, in both upper corners
• CUSIP 260543 AK 9
• CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICATION: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL TRUST AND SAVINGS ASSOCIATION, as Trustee
• The seal: THE DOW CHEMICAL COMPANY, CORPORATE, 1947, SEAL, DELAWARE
• AMERICAN BANK NOTE COMPANY, the printer
• On the back: the terms of the issue under an indenture dated as of January 15, 1976, the redemption table and the assignment form

These carry different issue dates. The registered holder, the certificate number, the amount and the date are typed into the blanks on each one, so the sheet you receive will differ from the photographed example in those particulars. Certificates like this one carry a paper trail from their working life, things like hole punches or cut cancellations, stamped endorsements from a registrar or transfer agent and pencil notations left by a clerk. None of that is damage, it's the certificate's own record of the hands and offices it passed through.

🧪 Dow of Midland, Michigan

Dow was founded in 1897 by Herbert Henry Dow in Midland, Michigan, pulling bromine out of the underground brine there, and its first products were bleach and potassium bromide. By 1902 it was turning out 72 tons of bleach a day. The seal on this bond reads 1947 and Delaware, and the terms on the back date this issue to an indenture of January 15, 1976, a thirty-year bond paying 8.50% and running all the way to 2006. Dow opened its consumer products division with Saran Wrap in 1953, and Saran Wrap, Ziploc bags and Scrubbing Bubbles were all Dow brands until they were sold to S. C. Johnson in 1997. After the DuPont merger and the 2019 split, Dow is still headquartered in Midland, and it was among the three largest chemical producers in the world in 2021.

🏦 The American Bank Note Company

The printer's line at the bottom is the American Bank Note Company, formed in New York City in 1858 when several of the country's leading security printers merged. It printed bank notes, stock and bond certificates and postage stamps, and once the government took over printing U.S. currency, it went on to supply bank notes and security paper to more than 100 countries. That's why a bond like this one is engraved as finely as money.

📜 Paper Shares

Engraved corporate paper like this goes back to the first shares issued by the Dutch East India Company in 1606, and it's all but gone now. Companies stopped issuing paper certificates one after another, and once they're gone, they're gone.

🖼️ Display

Picture this historic collectible adorning your wall, adding a touch of sophistication and intrigue to any room in your home or office. It makes a great gift for anybody who has worked at Dow, anybody from Midland, or anybody in chemistry or finance.