Origins of Value

Virtual Museum

An extensive archive of bonds, stock certificates, banknotes and more — the engraved and handwritten documents through which capital was promised, transferred and remembered, spanning four centuries of financial history from around the world.

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Now on view

The Birth of the Stock Market

From a medieval French mill cooperative to the first securities price-lists of Amsterdam — six documents tracing how the idea of a tradable share was invented on paper.

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Société Toulousaine du Bazacle share

Collection highlights

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Dutch East India Company obligation receipts

Banque Industrielle de Chine share

South Sea Bubble satirical playing cards

In the news

Yale Alumni Magazine

Infinity Has a Price

A 375-year-old Dutch perpetual bond owned by Yale still pays interest — a testament to the ingenuity of early financial instruments.

Yale School of Management

An Analysis of the 1959 Sednaoui Share Certificate

An Egyptian department store stock certificate reveals a story of mercantile success and state nationalization under Nasser.

Beauty, Power, Art, and Finance

How art, money, and power have historically intertwined — from establishing social hierarchy to generating speculative bubbles.