Beautifully engraved Speciman certificate from the Cannon Group, Inc. printed in 1989. This historic document was printed by the Security-Columbian Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of two allegorical people standing by the Cannon Group logo. This item has the printed signatures of the Company's President and Chairman of the Board and is over 16 years old. There is a red overprint on the certificate indicating the company's name was changed to Pathe Communications. 
Certificate Vignette The Cannon Group, Inc. became the largest independent film producer in Hollywood in the mid-1980s. International financier Giancarlo Parretti and his former partner, Florio Fiorini, acquired control of Cannon in 1989 from the Israeli filmmaking team of Menahem Golan and Yorum Globus after the company ran into serious financial problems. Florio Fiorini, an Italian financier pleaded guilty to charges he defrauded investors of $1.5 billion in Hollywood deals, including the 1990 purchase of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, federal prosecutors said. Florio Fiorini and Giancarlo Parretti controlled major entertainment companies in the 1990s. They appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Paul Game Jr. Fiorini, 60, was released on $250,000 bond after being ordered to return Monday for arraignment. Under a plea agreement, Fiorini, former chairman of The Cannon Group Inc. and Pathe Communications, plead guilty to conspiracy, two counts of securities fraud and two counts of filing false reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. They will serve a a sentence of 41 months in prison, a $100,000 fine and banishment from the United States for 10 years after completing his sentence. The pair were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on 55 counts in November 1998. Parretti is fighting extradition from Italy. The indictment alleged that Parretti and Fiorini, with the help of Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland and later its parent, illegally schemed to take over Cannon, and falsely enhance the financial condition of Cannon/Pathe, and to purchase MGM, later known as MGM-UA. Below are some the movies the Cannon Group produced: 10 to Midnight, 2 Pick-Up, Africa Express 1989) African Express (1989) Alien from L.A. (1987) Odeon (1987) American Ninja (1985) American Ninja 2: The Confrontation (1987) American Ninja 3: Blood Hunt (1989) American Ninja 4: The Annihilation (1991) American Ninja V (1993) American Ninja 5 (1993) (USA) Appointment with Death (1988) Assassination (1987) Beauty and the Beast (1987) Bloodsport (1988) Borrower, The (1991) Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988) Breakin' (1984) Castaway (1987) Cobra (1986) Dangerously Close (1986) Death Wish 3 (1985) Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) Doin' Time on Planet Earth (1988) Down Twisted (1987) 5.1/10 (41 votes) Exterminator 2 (1984) 2.8/10 (86 votes) Fifty/Fifty (1993) 4.3/10 (35 votes) 50-50 (1993) Firewalker (1986) Fool for Love (1985) Frog Prince, The (1988) Going Bananas (1987) My African Adventure (1987) (USA) Grace Quigley (1984) Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley, The (1984) Guess What We Learned in School Today? (1970) Hanoi Hilton, The (1987) Hellbound (1993) Hot T-Shirts (1979) Journey to the Center of the Earth (1989) King Solomon's Mines (1985) Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989) Lifeforce (1985) Masters of the Universe (1987) Mata Hari (1985) Mercenary Fighters (1987) Freedom Fighters (1987) Messenger of Death (1988) Missing in Action (1984) Murphy's Law (1986) Naked Cage, The (1986) Wild Cage (1986) Naked Face, The (1984) Nana (1982) Nana, the True Key of Pleasure (1982) (UK) Nana: La vera chiave del piacere (1982) (Italy) Outlaw of Gor (1989) Outlaw, The (1989/II) Over the Top (1987) Rescue Me (1993) Street Hunter (1993) (USA) Sahara (1983) Salsa (1988) Savage Weekend (1979) Upstate Murders, The (1979) Shy People (1987) Surrender (1987)
About Specimen Certificates Specimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file". Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates were made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company. These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that has grown in popularity over the past several years.
Certificate Vignette
About Specimen Certificates Specimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file". Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates were made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company. These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that has grown in popularity over the past several years.
