Beautiful certificate from the Madison Square Garden Corporation of New York printed prior to 1969 . This historic document was printed by the Security-Columbian Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of Madison Square Garden. This item has the printed signatures of the Company's President, Irving Mitchell Felt and Secretary.
Certificate Irving Mitchell Felt, a highly successful businessman led the drive in the 1960's to build a new Madison Square Garden on West 33d Street. Mr. Felt, for whom the Garden's Felt Forum, now the Paramount Theater, was named, also had wide influence over the New York metropolitan area's sports world. It was under his direction as a president of the Madison Square Garden Corporation that it bought the New York Rangers hockey club, the New York Knickerbockers basketball club, Roosevelt Raceway on Long Island and Holiday on Ice Productions, which put on ice shows. Madison Square Garden (sometimes called MSG or simply The Garden) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Located between Seventh and Eighth Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station (the second railroad station to bear the name). It is the fourth venue to bear the "MSG" name, the first two (1879) and (1890) of which were located on Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, with the third Madison Square Garden further uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street. The Garden is used for professional basketball and ice hockey, as well as boxing, concerts, ice shows, circuses, and other forms of sports and entertainment. It resides in close geographic proximity to other midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown, and Macy's at Herald Square. It is home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and residency to singer-songwriter, Billy Joel.[6] Opening on February 11, 1968, it is now considered to be the oldest, and most active major sporting facility in the New York City metropolitan area. It is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League and the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association. Madison Square Garden is the third-busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales, behind the Manchester Arena and The O2 Arena, both in England.[7] At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion, Madison Square Garden has been ranked as one of the ten most expensive stadium venues ever built.[8] It is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex. Several other operating entities related to the Garden share its name. In 1972, the Garden's chairman, Irving Mitchell Felt, proposed moving the New York Knicks and Rangers to a venue in the New Jersey Meadows (now completed and known as Meadowlands Sports Complex or Izod Center). The Garden was also the home arena for the NY Raiders/NY Golden Blades of the World Hockey Association. The Meadowlands would eventually host its own NBA and NHL teams (the New Jersey Nets and the New Jersey Devils, respectively). The NFL's New York Giants and Jets also relocated there. Felt's efforts fueled controversy between the Garden and New York City over real estate taxes. The disagreement again flared in 1980 when the Garden again challenged its tax bill. In 1991, Garden owners spent $200 million to renovate facilities and add 89 suites in place of hundreds of upper-tier seats. The project was designed by Ellerbe Becket. In 20042005, Cablevision battled with the City of New York over the proposed West Side Stadium, which was cancelled. Cablevision then announced plans to raze the Garden, replace it with high-rise commercial buildings, and build a new Garden one block away at the site of the James Farley Post Office. Meanwhile a new project to renovate and modernize the Garden completed phase one in time for the Rangers and Knicks' 201112 seasons,[15] though the vice president of the Garden says he remains committed to the installation of an extension of Penn Station at the Farley Post Office site. While the Knicks and Rangers will not be displaced, the New York Liberty will play at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey during the renovation. History from Wikipedia, Encyberpedia and OldCompany.com (old stock certificate research service) 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.