
Scripophily Exonumia - Bernard Madoff
Scripophily is the study and collecting of stock certificates and bonds, and if there's a "exonumia" category to it, I might have a good example: I recently purchased a few duplicate copies of buy and sell orders, as well as a page or two of monthly statements, from the investment firm of none other than the infamous Bernard Madoff. Madoff's New York & London based investment firm swindled investors out of 65 billion dollars over the course of about 20 years, which was also the world's biggest Ponzi Scheme. These documents offer a small look at the amount of money Madoff routinely moved to keep the rouse going and are dated from 1998 and 2003. They are interesting, but sad when you realize this was other people's fortunes, and it was all lost. Madoff used the funds to maintain an extravagant lifestyle and was caught in 2008. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 150 years. Thank God this guy didn't sell coins....