French Panama Canal Bond Certificate – 1888

French Panama Canal Bond Certificate – 1888
Offered is antique document from 1888 French lottery bond for construction of the Panama Canal. The two-sided 11 x 13-inch parchment document in French consists of a multi-stamped certificate printed in red with the reverse printed in black. Stamped as certificate number “0561766” in black, the bond is dated June 26, 1888 in the boilerplate copy. Issued by the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Paname, it is signed in black pen by the company’s president/director, Ferdinand de Lesseps. The Geographical Society of Paris organized a committee in 1876 to seek international cooperation for studies to fill in gaps in the geographical knowledge of the Central American area for the purpose of building an interoceanic canal.  The committee was headed by de Lesseps.  On December 7, 1880, the company began selling stock to pay for canal construction. A few years later, the company sold lottery bonds like this one to raise additional funds. Investors, having lost faith in Lesseps and his project, did not buy many, and bankruptcy soon followed. In 1894, the company was reorganized as the Compagnie Nouvelle du Canal de Panama. It, too, eventually failed. In 1903, Panama and the United States signed a treaty by which the United States undertook to construct an interoceanic ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. The following year, the United States purchased from the French Canal Company its rights and properties for $40 million and began construction. The monumental project was completed in 10 years at a cost of about $387 million.
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