A few weeks ago I purchased a used board game from a thrift store. When I got home and opened the box, there was an unopened envelope inside. It was addressed to someone in a town about 30 miles away from where I live, it’s even farther from the thrift store. It was postmarked February of 2000. I opened the envelope and found it is one share of stock for the Boston Beer Company, the makers of Samual Adams.
I did some quick searching and discovered that the person the stock was sent to no longer lives at the address on the envelope, the current resident never heard of this person. A Zabasearch show no one with that exact name living in the state of Washington. I made a few random calls to folks with this last name that live in this town(one of the more common last names that starts with Z) and no one knows of this person. I sent an email to the brokerage that issued the certificate, they stated it is still valid but could not give me any information about the person to whom it was issued. They also stated that the person that was originally issued the certificate could replace it for a $12 fee. Boston Brewing never responded to an email I sent to them. I also posted at some geneology and other forums looking for this person but have not gotten any responses.
I have also since discovered that there are folks that collect stock certificates and that I could make a few bucks selling this item on eBay. This particular stock certificate is quite colorful with the Samual Adams logo and buds of hops around the edges. I was wondering what would be the best course of action. Wait a bit longer and see if someone responds to one of the forums? Send the stock certificate back to the brokerage? They never indicated that I should in their response to my email. Or can I go ahead and list the item on eBay as a collectible, not as an item with stock value?