^Lot 221 Hercules Powder Company

DE. 1915. Proof stock certificate from the Republic BNCo. and very rare. Printed on white paper, uniface, with purple "cancelled" handstamps referring to the cancellation of the printing plates. Vignette of nude Hercules wearing animal fur covering vital areas and holding club. Odd shares, Voting Common Stock. Vignette, title and text present but the border is missing. Hercules origins as a gunpowder manufacturer can be traced back more than 125 years to the DuPont Company, whose leadership position in the explosives industry is legendary. In 1907, the Justice Department filed suit claiming that E.I. du Pont de Nemours was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This litigation was settled in 1912 when the company divested itself of its high explosives business and the Atlas and Hercules Powder Companies were set up as independent entities. Rare historic gunpowder company now known as Alliant Powder Co. RBNC. Fine.