Beautifully engraved specimen certificate from the Cowles Broadcasting, Inc. printed in 1982. This historic document was printed by the Security-Columbian United States Banknote Corporation and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an allegorical woman. This item has the printed signatures of the Company's President, and Secretary, and is over 28 years old. 
Certificate Vignette January 08, 1985 - (BU)- COWLES BROADCASTING, based in Daytona Beach, completed a merger with a subsidiary of H&C Communications Monday prior to the opening of trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Stockholders of Cowles, which owns television stations in Daytona Beach-Orlando and Des Moines, Iowa, received $46 per share in cash from H&C under the merger announced June 22. H&C, of Houston, is privately owned.
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.
