This small -format album of reproduced images of choice stock and bond certificates issued in by registered companies through the Egyptian Bourse, or Stock Exchange, will be a source of delight and fascination, not only for scripophilists, notaphilists, and economists, but for anyone interested in early twentieth-century Egyptian financial history and memorabilia and the aesthetic value of these beautiful collectors’ items. Each certificate tells a story about the company which issued it, and the fascinating and dynamic business families that drove Egypt’s economy at the time.
Founded in 1903 at the behest of Maurice “Moise” Cattaui Bey (1848–1924), scion of one of Cairo’s then most powerful business families, the newly incorporated Bourse and Banking Company of Egypt Limited, also known as the Bourse Khediviale du Caire, was initially housed in the Manuk Building, once home to the Ottoman Bank on Adly (formerly Maghrabi) Street. It was later moved to a building at the center of Cairo’s downtown district of Ismailia, not far from the National Bank of Egypt (today’s Central Bank). The real-estate boom which began in Cairo around 1895 would end in what became known in the annals of speculative history as the Crash of 1907. In The Egyptian Bourse Samir Raafat tells the story of the rise and fall of the Egyptian Bourse, from the sale of the century by Khedive Ismail of Egypt’s shares in the Suez Canal in 1875 to the Free Officers coup of 1952. Beautifully illustrated with more than fifty vintage shares and stocks in full color.
