Saks & Company (Saks Fifth Avenue) - Rare Stock Certificate hand signed by Isadore and William Saks) New York - 1922

Extremely Rare issued Stock Certificate #104 from Saks & Company issued in 1922. This historic document was printed by the Broun-Green Company and has an ornate border around it with tax stamps attached to the face. This item has the signatures of the Company’s President, Isadore Saks and Treasurer, William A. Saks and is over 88 years old. The certificate was issued to and endorsed on the back by Isadore Saks. We have only seen two certificates issued from Saks and Company, and this is one of them.





Isadore and William Saks Signatures


Back of certificate signed by Isadore

Moody's Manual 1922

SAKS & COMPANY. Inc. Jan 20, 1902, in N. Y. For 20 years has conducted a specialty store at 34th St. and Broadway, New York, carrying only wearing apparel for men, women and children, together with such kindred lines as jewelry, leather and toilet goods. In 1920 secured a lease for a total period of 105 years, being for 21 years with four renewals of 21 years each and covering approximately 36,700 sq. ft. of ground on the East side of Fifth Ave. with a frontage of 158 feet between 49th and 50th Streets, including both corners, on which it intends to erect a modern store building with approximately 400,000 sq. ft. of floor space. Company intends to expend approximately $4,250,000 in the construction and equipment of the new building, including ground rent, taxes and carrying charges during construction. The sum of $3,500,000 will l>e deposited with Central Union Trust Co. of New York, as Trustee, to be invested in U. S. Government securities or held in banks and trust companies as a cash tund in trust to be applied to the construction and equipment and other charges during construction ol the new store building. Not exceeding $1,000,000 thereof may he temporarily deposited with Bankers Trust Co. of New York as a guaranty for the construction of the building in accordance with provisions of the lease, to be released from time to time as construction of the building progresses.

Officers: Isadore Saks, Pres.; P. A. Connc. Sec; J. I. Saks, Asst. Treas., New York. Directors: Isadore Saks, P. A. Conne, W. A. Saks, H. A. Saks, New York. General Office, 34th St. and Broadway, New York.

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Saks Fifth Avenue is the successor of a business founded by Andrew Saks in 1867 and incorporated in New York in 1902 as Saks & Company. Andrew died in 1912 and in 1923 Saks & Co. merged with Gimbels Brothers, Inc., operating as a separate autonomous subsidiary. On September 15, 1924, Saks Fifth Avenue opened in New York City.

Andrew Saks was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and moved to Washington, D.C., to make his fortune. He established a clothing business there in 1867 that grew to include stores in other cities. He moved to New York and opened Saks & Company in 1902 at Sixth Avenue and 34th Street with the help of his brother Isadore and his sons Horace and William.

Saks Fifth Avenue operated independent retail stores on New York's 34th Street at Herald Square in the early 1900s. Their dream was to construct a unique specialty store that would become synonymous with fashionable, gracious living. The combined financial input of these great merchant families led to the purchase of a site between 49th and 50th Streets on upper Fifth Avenue. With the opening of its founders' "dream store" on September 15, 1924, Saks Fifth Avenue became the first large retail operation to locate in what was then primarily a residential district. By offering the finest quality men's and women's fashions, as well as an extraordinary program of customer services, Saks Fifth Avenue has become the byword for taste and elegance.

Today, Saks Fifth Avenue is a luxury American specialty store owned and operated by Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE), a subsidiary of Saks Incorporated. It competes in the high-end specialty store market with Bergdorf Goodman, Neiman Marcus, Barneys New York, and Bloomingdales. The company headquarters and the company-designated flagship store are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises (SFAE) consists of 54 Saks Fifth Avenue stores, 48 Saks Off 5th stores, and saks.com.

When Bernard's cousin Adam Gimbel became President of Saks Fifth Avenue in 1926 after Bernard's sudden passing, the company took on national aspirations. The very first branch store opened in 1926 in the city of Palm Beach, Florida as a resort store, followed by a Southampton resort store in 1928. The first full-line year-round Saks store was opened in Chicago in 1929, followed by another resort store in Miami Beach, Florida. In 1938 Saks expanded to the West Coast, opening in Beverly Hills, California. By the end of the 1930s Saks Fifth Avenue had a total of 10 stores, including resort locations such as Sun Valley, Mount Stowe and Newport. More full-line stores followed with Detroit in 1940 and Pittsburgh in 1949. In downtown Pittsburgh, the company moved to its own freestanding location approximately one block from its former home on the fourth floor in the downtown Gimbel's flagship. The San Francisco location opened in 1952. More expansion followed from the 1960s through the 1990s including Texas, the Midwest, and the South.

BATUS Inc. acquired Gimbel Bros., Inc. and its Saks Fifth Avenue subsidiary in 1973 as part of its diversification strategy. In 1990, BATUS sold Saks to Investcorp S.A., which after investing in the company and weathering the early 1990s recession took Saks public in 1996 as Saks Holdings, Inc. In 1998, Saks Holdings Inc. was acquired by Proffitt's, Inc., then the parent company of Proffitt's among other department stores. Upon closing of the acquisition, Proffitt's, Inc. changed its name to Saks Incorporated.

History from Wikipedia and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service).