SOUTH SEA CO. - LORD BINNING

Dividend payment order of £3000. black. As Chairman of the Commissioners for the issue of Exchequer Bills, located at the South Sea House in Threadneedle Street, London, Lord Charles Hamilton Binning (1697-1732) signed this certificate, an order to Conrad de Gols, Cashier of the South Sea Co., to pay a dividend of £3000 to a Mr. Mitchell. The South Sea Company was created in 1711 and was granted a monopoly of British trade with South America and the Pacific islands. It was highly successful. Towards the end of 1719 the directors recommended to the government that they take over the whole of the national debt, persuading the holders to exchange their annuities for South Sea stock. That stock would be sold at a high premium, repaying a large amount of debt. The stock appreciatedin value, and the public bought at ever higher prices. From £128 in January 1721 it rose to £1000 in July. Then the price fell, down to 135 in November. Thousands of people were ruined. The company continued to exist, with no great prosperity until the19th century, when it was dissolved. The lot comes with a contemporary portrait print of Lord Binning.

Condition: VF