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Auction: 316 - The Collector's Series
Lot: 641

Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris RR (NY) 1873. Proxy. Blue paper. Signed by Cornelius Vanderbilt (the "Commodore"), William H. Vanderbilt (his eldest son), and Cornelius Vanderbilt (his grandson). IU. EF.´The Commodore´ (1794-1877) founded the family fortune in steam ferries and railroads in and around New York and became one of the richest men of his time. In 1818, Vanderbilt was just 24 and already in business. That year he began working for Thomas Gibbons running cut-rate steamship lines between Manhattan and New Brunswick. They ran into trouble with Fulton & Livingston, the line founded by steamship pioneer Robert Fulton, which had a monopoly on Hudson River transport. Gibbons and Vanderbilt were sued, but won when the case reached the Supreme Court. Cornelius Vanderbilt II (1843 - 1899) was an American socialite, heir, businessman. He was the favorite grandson of "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who left him $5 million, and the eldest son of William Henry Vanderbilt, who left him close to $70 million. He succeeded both of them as head of the New York Central Railroad in 1885. All three signatures rarely appear together on a railroad related document.

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