Lot 138

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Description:

South Sea Company 8pp Trustees Report, Acts of Parliament

SOUTH SEA COMPANY. Printed Document, “The Report from the Trustees of the South Sea Company to the Honourable House of Commons”, 8pp, 7.75” x 12”, January 25, 1722. London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, Bernard Lintot, and William Taylor. Very minor wear, final page separating from binding at top and bottom, else near Fine.

Trustees Report, “to put in Execution the several Truths and Powers mentioned and contained in an Act of Parliament (Intitled, An Act for Raising Money upon the Estates of the late Sub-Governor, Deputy-Governor, Directors, Cashire, Deputy-Cashire and Accomptant of the South Sea Company…) and also in One other Act of Parliament (Intitled, An Act for Prolonging the Times for hearing and determining Claims before the Trustees, in whom the Estates of the late South Seas Directors…are vested…) Verso of report reads, “By Vertue of an Order of the House of Commons, I do appoint Jacob Tonson, Bernard Lintot, and William Taylor to Print this Report; and that no other Person presume to Print the same. / SP. Compton, Speaker.”

The South Sea Company was a British joint-stock company founded in January 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate, and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly to supply African slaves to the islands in the "South Seas" and South America. When the company was created, Britain was involved in the War of the Spanish Succession and Spain and Portugal controlled most of South America. There was thus no realistic prospect that trade would take place, and as it turned out, the Company never realized any significant profit from its monopoly. However, Company stock rose greatly in value as it expanded its operations dealing in government debt and peaked in 1720 before collapsing to little above its original flotation price. The notorious economic bubble thus created, which ruined thousands of investors, became known as the South Sea Bubble.

In Great Britain, many investors were ruined by the share price collapse, and as a result, the national economy diminished substantially. The founders of the scheme engaged in insider trading, by using their advance knowledge of the timings of national debt consolidations to make large profits from purchasing debt in advance. Huge bribes were given to politicians to support the Acts of Parliament necessary for the scheme. Company money was used to deal in its own shares, and selected individuals purchasing shares were given cash loans backed by those same shares to spend on purchasing more shares. The expectation of profits from trade with South America was talked up to encourage the public to purchase shares, but the bubble prices reached far beyond what the actual profits of the business (namely the slave trade) could justify.

The Old South Sea House, formerly the Threadneedle Street institution in the City of London, was the headquarters of the South Sea Company. The building, located on the corner with Bishopsgate was designed around a quadrangle. The back of it apparently burned down in 1826 and was subsequently rebuilt. The building was partly remodeled in the 1850s and was eventually demolished at the end of the 19th century.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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