Beautifully engraved RARE specimen certificate from the State of California for the Employment Relief Bond Act of 1933 dated 1934. This historic document was printed by Hamilton Banknote Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an state capitol building. This item has the printed signatures of the State's Governor, James Rolph Jr. and Controller, Ray Riley and is over 72 years old. 17 coupons attached. 
Certificate Vignette James Rolph, Jr. (August 23, 1869 June 2, 1934) was a U.S. politician and a member of the Republican Party. He served one term as the 27th Governor of California from January 6, 1931 until his death and had previously been the Mayor of San Francisco from January 8, 1912 until resigning to become Governor. The official name of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge is the James "Sunny Jim" Rolph Bridge.
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. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that has grown in popularity over the past several years.
Certificate Vignette
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. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that has grown in popularity over the past several years.
