A Man Transfers His Dividend Payment From The South Sea Company Two Years After That Company Hit The Peak Of Its Famous Bubble

(THE SOUTH SEA COMPANY). The South Sea Company was a British venture established in 1711 to trade with South American colonies. Its publicly-traded stock became the subject of a massive bubble in 1720. Shares traded for £1050 British Pounds in June of that year, up from a mere £128 in January, but then fell back to the £100 range by the end of the year. Companies and private individuals alike were financially devastated when the bubble burst, and many of the company’s key figures were eventually prosecuted for various sorts of corruption. ADS. 1pg. 6” x 7 ½”. July 28, 1722. N.p. An autograph document signed “Tho. Macro” and written in the same hand. Mr. Macro transfers his dividend payment from South Sea Company stock to John Creichton of London: “Sr please to pay my Dividend of mid Summer cost for all my stock in the South Sea Company to Dr. John Creichton being 633:6:8 and this shall be yr dischange from yr unknown humble sert Tho. Macro”. Macro received this dividend about two years after the South Sea Company reached its highest price and over one year after the bubble had fully collapsed. The document is in very good condition with a few small holes and a small piece removed from the bottom edge of the paper. The address leaf is on the verso. A memory of one of the financial market’s great stock bubbles.