Unusual scallop-topped French-language bond of the Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia, with head office based in Paris, 25.5 x 16.75, issued December 14, 1899, complete with 48 coupons attached to the right side. Numbered 35,035, this beautifully engraved bond notes “a capital of 8,000,000 francs raised to 18,000,000 francs,” with “five hundred francs bearer share,” and features a sensationally large vignette of a railway next to a caravan of camels and men, with upper Lion of Judah emblem. In fine condition.
The Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia was founded by Alfred Ilg and Léon Chefneux in 1894. Headquartered in Paris, France, the company’s aim was to build and operate a railway from the port of Djibouti to the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa. The company received a royal charter on March 9, 1894, but Menelek II resisted putting any of his personal funds into the venture. Instead, the company received a 99-year concession to operate the railway, in return for giving Menelek shares in the company and half of all profits in excess of 3,000,000 francs. Furthermore, the firm was obliged to construct a telegraph line along the route.
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