Beautifully engraved $25,000 Bond Certificate from the Spiegel Corporation issued in 1976. This historic document was printed by the Security-Columbian Bank Note Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of three Roman women. This item is hand signed by the Company's Chairman of the Board ( Modie Spiegel ) and Secretary ( Albert R. Bell ) and is over 30 years old.
Certificate Vignette Spiegel, Inc. and its predecessors date from 1865. The Company was incorporated under the laws of Delaware in 1965. Spiegel Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation, currently holds 99.9 percent of the Company's Class B voting common stock, affording SHI control of the Company. In 1988, the Company acquired Eddie Bauer, Inc. and certain related Canadian assets (collectively, "Eddie Bauer"). In 1990, the Company acquired First Consumers National Bank ("FCNB"). FCNB is a special-purpose bank specializing in the issuance of credit cards. In 1993, the Company acquired New Hampton, Inc. ("New Hampton"). In 1995, New Hampton's name was changed to Newport News, Inc. ("Newport News"). In 1997, the Company incorporated its Spiegel Catalog division ("Spiegel") as a separate subsidiary parallel to Eddie Bauer and Newport News. This was done to provide greater clarity between the Spiegel brand name and the corporate entity. The Spiegel Group is a leading, international specialty retailer that offers merchandise and credit services through a merchandising segment and a bankcard segment. The merchandising segment is an aggregation of the Company's Eddie Bauer, Spiegel and Newport News subsidiaries which distribute apparel, home furnishings and other merchandise through catalogs, e-commerce sites and retail stores. These businesses are supported by the Company's FCNB Preferred charge programs. In 1999, revenue related to the sale of merchandise comprised approximately 95 percent of the merchandising segment's total revenue. The remainder was contributed by finance revenue generated from FCNB Preferred charge programs, including net gains recognized in conjunction with the securitization of customer receivables.