Beautiful engraved unissued certificate from the Berkeley Development Company printed in the 1890's. This historic document was printed by Britton & Rey and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of Berkeley, California in the 1890's. This item has the signatures of the Company's President and Secretary and is over 107 years old.
Certificate Vignette In the first years of the 20th century, John Hopkins Spring teamed up with Berkeley real-estate developer Duncan McDuffie and capitalists Louis Titus (1872c.1947) and Wigginton Ellis Creed (18771927) in the Berkeley Development Company and the North Berkeley Land Company. Spring was also a business associate of Francis Marion "Borax" Smith (18461931) and Frank Colton Havens (18481918), especially in the East Bay real-estate ventures of their Realty Syndicate and its holding company United Properties.