July 14th, 2011
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/14/2011
COOKE, Jay (1821-1905) was an American financier. Cooke and his firm Jay Cooke & Company were most notable for their role in financing the Union's war effort during the American Civil War. On January 1, 1861, just months before the start of the American Civil War, Cooke opened the private banking house of Jay Cooke & Company in Philadelphia. Soon after the war began, the new firm floated a war loan of $3,000,000 for the state of Pennsylvania. In the early months of the American Civil War, Cooke collaborated with the secretary of the treasury Salmon P. Chase in securing loans from the leading bankers in the Northern cities; his own firm was so successful in distributing treasury notes that Chase engaged him as special agent for the sale of the $500,000,000 of so-called "five-twenty" bonds—which were callable in 5 years and matured in 20 years—authorized by Congress on February 25, 1862. The treasury department had previously failed in selling these bonds. (Cooke and his brother a newspaper editor had helped Chase get his job by lobbying for him, even though all were former Democrats.)In his later career, Cooke was noted for his role in the financing of railroads in the northwestern United States. Stock certificate signed “Jay Cooke” on verso, in receipt of ten shares of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, issued December 1, 1876, and valued at $100 per share. Fine condition.
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