Beautifully engraved certificate from the The Lionel Corporation issued no later than. This historic document was printed by the Security Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of a boy playing with a train. This item has the printed signatures of the company's president and treasurer and is over 69 years old. The "old boy" vignette is much harder to find than the boy with a train vignette.
Certificate Vignette Below is a little history of the famous toy train company: Joshua Lionel Cohen born, eighth of nine children. Cohen would later change his last name's spelling to Cowen in 1910. The first electrical Lionel train, begins production in the early 1900s. Lionel produced its first accessory, the 340 suspension bridge, also the first animated car. The Standard gauge trains was another product line for the 1900's. There product line included steam locomotives, cars, freight cars and caboose, multi-volt transformers. In the 1920's Cowen hires Frank Pettit, designer of the Lionel product features animated accessories. In 1925 the celebrate there anniversary. They purchased Ives and gain use of the E-Unit that is still used in principle today. In the 1930's the largest of standard gauge steam engines the 400E that headed up the famous Blue Comet was offered. Lower priced trains was also offered but never really caught on with the consumers. Mickey & Minnie mechanical handcar was the first of many Lionel The Company filed a petition under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY on June 14, 1991. The Company's Liquidating Plan of Reorganization, filed under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, New York, NY was confirmed on December 12, 1994.