And it is an existing company like IBM, JP Morgan, RJR Reynolds, etc.
What is the likelihood the shares has not been cancelled or transferred if there is no indication of it?
Is it like a bearer bond? If it is made out to Joe Blow and I find it who owns the shares?
If I have the certificate number, can I contact the transfer dealer or the company’s investor relations and find out if it is still good?
Contact the investor relations department of the company to find out if it is still valid. They are not typically bearer instruments, but are registered to a specific shareholder, but who knows, you might be an heir to that shareholder.
A broker told me about a client of hers who was heir to an uncle. Said uncle lived in a modest home in a small town in southern Illinois. In his basement was a fancy train set, which the client decided to dismantle, thinking that the trains might be worth something.
The trains were worth a few hundred dollars. The stock certificates they found stacked under the table holding the trains were worth a few million.
Stock certificates generally have negligible value, unless they are particularly ornate or were issued by a corporation or government of particular historical interest, and are rare.
But they may be evidence of still-existing stockholdings which may (or may not) be valuable. However, the mere fact that the certificate still exists does not mean that the stockholding which it represented still exists. And, except in the case of bearer bonds, possession of the certificate does not confer any title or claim to ownership of the stockholding, if it does still exist.
I had a client who inherited a bunch of stock from a dozen or so western mining companies. After researching these companies for a few weeks, we learned that they were all worthless, except for one that had a value of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars because the company had been acquired. She accrued way more in our fees to find that out. It didn’t much matter to her because she was still a multi-millionaire from other inheritance and investments. We may have just written off our fees anyway. I don’t remember anymore.