Beautifully engraved SPECIMEN certificate from the H.D. Lee Mercantile Company. This historic document was printed by the Security Banknote Company in the 1920's and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle.
Certificate Vignette The company was founded by Harry David Lee in 1889. Henry David Lee is born Dec. 9, 1849, in Vermont. Early success in the oil business and a doctor's admonition to go west, lead the tubercular Lee to settle in Salina, Kan., in 1889. There, the H.D. Lee Mercantile Co. becomes the major food distributor between Kansas City and Denver. Sales of notions, furnishings, stationery and school supplies follow.