Beautifully engraved Certificate from the famous
Onieda, Ltd issued in 1969. This historic document
was printed by the American Banknote Company and has an ornate block border with a vignette of John Humphrey Noyes, the founder of the Oneida Community, and the Mansion House in Kenwood, where the members of the Community lived. This certificate has the printed signature of Pierrepont (Pete) Noyes is over 34 years old.
Certificate Vignette
Oneida Ltd. is the world's largest stainless steel and silverplated flatware maker. Its operations in the
United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Italy manufacture and market sterling,
silver-plated, and stainless products, and commercial china tableware. Oneida also markets tableware
and crystal gift items. The company originated in a utopian community established in the
mid-nineteenth century, and has had a strong reputation for quality since that time.
The Oneida Community was founded by John Humphrey Noyes in upstate New York in 1848. The
Community was founded on Noyes' theology of Perfectionism, a form of Christianity with two basic
values: self-perfection and communalism. These ideals were translated into everyday life through
shared property and work as well as Complex marriage - monogamous marriage was abolished, and
children were raised communally from their second year until age 12.
The Oneida Community existed longer than most other utopias of the nineteenth century in part
because of the solvency of its businesses, and the members of the group lived and worked together
from 1848 until the late 1870s. Prosperity didn't shield the organization from conflict, however, and in
1879 the Community split into two factions. Unable to resolve their differences, the members voted to
transform the group's businesses into a joint-stock company, the Oneida Community, Limited, which
would be owned and operated by former members of the society. The Community was valued at
$600,000 and stocks were distributed according to each member's original contribution and length of
service. The stock was divided among 226 men, women, and children, the majority of whom received
between $2,000 and $4,999 in shares. The progressive nature of the new company was reflected in,
among other things, the presence of a woman, Harriet Joslyn, as superintendent of the silk mill and a
member of the board of directors.
During the fifteen years following Oneida's reorganization, the company's financial standing
deteriorated. A severe depression in the 1890s, inadequate leadership, and emigration from the
community plagued the new company. Some have speculated that the failure of the utopian community
contributed to demoralization of the worker/stockholders, further eroding the company's prospects for
success.
But in January 1894, Pierrepont Burt Noyes (P.B. Noyes), the son of Oneida's founder, rejoined the
company after working as an Oneida wholesaler in - The World - as many Oneidans referred to the
world outside their community. At only 23 years old, P.B. Noyes replaced an uncle on Oneida's board
of directors. His experience outside the Community enabled him to see and criticize weaknesses that
threatened the company's existence. Within two months Noyes led a proxy fight to oust directors who
clung to old-fashioned business strategies. Nearly 24,000 shares were voted, and Noyes' side won by
just 16 shares. Noyes was offered the position of superintendent at Oneida's Niagara Falls Plant, and
soon raised the operation's standards of quality to their former levels. In 1899 the company announced
its largest profits to date and paid its stockholders a dividend of seven percent.
By the time he reached the age of thirty, Noyes had risen to de facto control of Oneida. The board
nominated him to the newly created post of general manager with authority to oversee all of the
company's divisions: canning and manufacturing of tableware, traps, chains, and silk thread. Noyes'
rise to prominence at Oneida marked the company's emergence into the industrial world of the
twentieth century. Before the turn of the century Oneida had relied on its managers' creativity, thrift,
and diligence and the excellent reputation of its products. In 1977 Oneida moved to diversify its
interests through the purchase of the Camden Wire Co., Inc. Camden Wire was one of the principal
U.S. manufacturers of industrial wire products. One year later Oneida acquired Rena-Ware, a
cookware manufacturer with operations in 34 countries and the majority of sales outside the United
States. That year the company also got a new president, John Marcellus, Jr., who had joined Oneida in
1946. Pete Noyes continued as chairman until 1981, when Marcellus also assumed that position.
By 1983 the company sold over half of all flatware purchased in the United States. The company
sought to purchase other companies in order to infiltrate the total tableware market. Oneida purchased
Buffalo China, Inc., one of the nation's largest volume producers of commercial chinaware, and
Webster-Wilcox, a producer of expensive holloware (silver serving platters). In 1984 the company
acquired D. J. Tableware, maker of high quality flatware, holloware, and china for the food service
industry. Oneida also began to market a line of crystal stemware and giftware in the mid-1980s. The
latter part of the decade saw several further changes at Oneida in management as well as business
approaches. In 1986 John Marcellus retired as chairman and president. William Matthews, previously
the company's general counsel, was named chairman and CEO, while Samuel Lanzafame, who
previously headed the Camden Wire subsidiary, was named president. In addition, Gary Moreau, who
had accumulated broad management experience since joining the company in 1977, became executive
vice president of the Oneida Silversmiths Division, the company's core unit. Meanwhile, Oneida
responded to shifting market conditions by re-addressing the production of lower-end, less expensive
flatware. Like many domestic manufacturers, Oneida had lost much of this business segment to import
competition. However, a renewed emphasis on these high-volume lines provided Oneida with a strong
complement to its more expensive flatware selections, and also enabled the company to make fuller
use of its factories. But while the company has clearly shown it can compete with imports at all levels,
the higher-end flatware lines remain today the most important part of Oneida's business. Also during
this period, Oneida made additional adjustments in subsidiary operations. After selling the Rena-Ware
holding in the early 1980s, a few years later the company became majority owner of Oneida
International, Inc., a joint venture formed to market Italian-designed tabletop products. The products
are sold in the international foodservice market through an Italian subsidiary, Sant'Andrea S.r.l. On
the domestic front, the Kenwood Silver subsidiary expanded its network of retail factory store outlets
located in resort and destination shopping areas; the stores sell Oneida's excess inventory along with
discontinued items and factory seconds. Within the company, worker loyalty was enhanced by the
creation of an Employee Stock Ownership Plan in 1987 that put 15 percent of Oneida's stock in
employees' hands. From the late '80s into the early '90s, Oneida invested more than $100 million into
plant improvements, including computer design and manufacturing systems, plant consolidation, and
machinery upgrades.
This certificate looks great framed and is much nicer in person than the scan indicates.