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Auction: 313 - Numismatic Collector's Series - Ft. Worth, TX
Lot: 1550

South Sea Company (UK) Manuscript power of attorney, March 10, 1730, authorizing "Anthony Renkine Esq to ask demand & receive of & from the Cashier of the South Sea Company...all such Dividends as are or shall become due on all the Capital South Sea Stock in the Joint Names of the said Anthony Renkine, Sr Henry Hoghton & Colonel Richard Whitworth," signed by Hoghton and Whitworth, toned, soiling and edge wear, good VF. Formed in 1711, the South Sea Company had a monopoly on British trade with Spain´s South American colonies, and also purchased (with shares) a large portion of Britain´s national debt. The value of the company´s stock was inflated with exaggerated reports of its South Seas trade, which was in fact all but nonexistent. After shares reached a top price of 1000 pounds, the bubble burst in 1720, ruining thousands of investors. The company was then reorganized and for some years was also very active in the slave trade; it would continue to manage the public debt for another century.

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