don t throw out your old stock certificates because they may end up being valuable 
modern day examples of wallpapersome modern day examples of wallpaper include a variety of companies that went bust during the dotcom bubble burst of march 2000 to october 2002 and the great recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s some examples include online retailers pets com and webvan when the dotcom bubble burst and lehman brothers during the great recession collectible wallpaperold securities certificates have found a new life as a collectible collectors have been known to pay thousands of dollars for certificates that are considered quality artwork popular images have the signatures or images of famous individuals or were issued by popular or notable corporations or governments some popular examples are exceedingly rare such as a confederate states of america 1 000 bond and an 1887 stock certificate from chadborn coldwell manufacturing co later toro co featuring a vignette of a boy mowing a lawn each is valued at about 2 500 the practice of collecting out of date or worthless wallpaper stock and bond certificates is called scripophily special considerationsindividuals who hold old stock certificates bearing the names of long gone companies should not assume they are worthless however decades of mergers acquisitions name changes and stock splits do not mean a stock is worthless it could mean that a stock or bond certificate is worth far more than one expects depending on the situation if it isn t worth cash as an actual tradable security you may find a collector who will pay good money for it as the old adage goes one person s junk may be another person s treasure investopedia does not provide tax investment or financial services and advice the information is presented without consideration of the investment investors investing involves risk including the possible loss of principal 