Abbreviations are commonly encountered in the scripophily world. They can be present in the description of the certificate, its type, its decoration, its conservation state or the cancellation type. |
Common abbreviations found in the certificate description are : |
S.A. : Société Anonyme |
C.D.F. : Chemin De Fer |
SOC. : SOCiété ou SOCiedad |
LTD : LimiTeD |
SCARL : Soc. Congolaise A Responsabilité Limitée |
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AG ou A.G. ou A-G : Aktien-Gesellschaft ( = S.A.) |
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N.V. : Naameloze Vennotschap ( = S.A.) |
spec. : specimen |
CIA : CompanIA |
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CO. : COmpany |
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CIE : CompagnIE |
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Common abbreviations found in the type description of a certificate are listed below. They are usually composed of 2 characters, the first and second character can be found in respectively the first and second column below. The third column is giving examples of combination. It is the aim to gradually replace these abbreviations by their full text meaning, and exactly as printed on the certificate, in order to improve lisibility to foreigners. |
| A. |
Action |
C. |
Capital |
Examples : |
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| B. |
Bon |
D. |
Dividende |
A.O. |
Action Ordinaire |
| C. |
Certificat |
F. |
Fondateur |
A.Priv. |
Action Privilégiée |
| I. |
Inscription |
N. |
Nominative |
P.F. |
Part de Fondateur |
| O. |
Obligation |
O. |
Ordinaire |
C.N. |
Certificat Nominatif |
| P. |
Part |
P. |
Porteur |
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| R. |
Récépissé |
Prior. |
Priorité |
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| T. |
Titre |
Priv. |
Privilégiée |
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For the type of the decoration, following abbreviations are used : |
- DDD : very very Decorated
- DD : very Decorated
- D : Decorated
- PH : PHoto : presence of one or more printed pictures
- UP : UnderPrint : presence of a picture in background
- VV : many Vignettes
- V : one Vignette
- ED : Encadrement Decorated
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Hereabove, bond of the city of Paris, decorated as "V" due to the presence of a vignette. |
In order to describe the conservation state of a certificate, the most commonly used system is the one used by the numismats : UNC, EF, VF, F, VG, G ... followed by an eventual cancellation type. Click here to have more information on this evaluation method of the quality of a certificate. |
Annulation types commonly encountered are : |
- h.c.: hole cancelled
- s.c. : stamp cancelled
- st.c. : striped cancelled
- p.c. : pen cancelled
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Here above : beautifull share of a Belgian tramway company operated in Italy 'Tramways of Bologna', stripped cancelled: indeed presence of 4 vertical strips with the french word 'annulé' (cancelled). |