UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION stock certificate Start Price USD 19.95 Current Price USD 19.95 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, August 28, 2008 End Time Thursday, September 04, 2008 Location Richmond See more about 'UNITED STATES STEEL CORPORATION stock certificate' Description United States Steel CorporationStock Certificate This is an authentic stock certificate from the United States Steel Corporation .   The certificate has a wonderful vignette of an early steel factory operation. 1940s. Company OverviewWhen founded in 1901, United States Steel Corporation was the largest business enterprise ever launched, with an authorized capitalization of $1.4 billion.  Throughout the years, U. S. Steel responded to changing economic conditions and new market opportunities through diversification and periodic restructuring.  Today, over a century after its founding,   U. S. Steel remains the largest integrated steel producer in the United States.  United States Steel Corporation's Founding Fathers Andrew Carnegie J.P. Morgan Charles Schwab Elbert H. GaryJ. P. Morgan and Elbert H. Gary founded U.S. Steel in 1901 (incorporated on February 25) by combining the steel operations owned by Andrew Carnegie with their holdings in the Federal Steel Company. At one time U.S. Steel was the largest steel producer and largest corporation in the world. The federal government attempted to use federal antitrust laws to break up U.S. Steel in 1911. That effort ultimately failed. Time and competitors have, however, accomplished nearly the same thing. In its first full year of operation, U.S. Steel made 67% of all the steel produced in the United States. It now produces less than 10%. The Corporation, as it was known on Wall Street, always distinguished itself to investors by virtue of its size, rather than for its efficiency or creativeness during its heyday. In 1901 it controlled two-thirds of steel production. Because of heavy debts taken on at the company's formation, Carnegie insisted on being paid in gold bonds for his stake. For fears of antitrust litigation, U.S. Steel moved cautiously. Competitors often innovated faster, especially Bethlehem Steel Company, run by U.S. Steel's former first president, Charles M. Schwab. U.S. Steel's share of the expanding market slipped to 50% by 1911. U.S. Steel's production peaked at more than 35 million tons in 1953. Its employment was greatest during World War II in 1943 when it had more than 340,000 employees. By 2000 it employed approximately 52,500 people. The federal government has also intervened on other occasions to try to control U.S. Steel. President Harry S. Truman attempted to take over its steel mills in 1951 to resolve a crisis with its union, the United Steelworkers of America. The Supreme Court of the United States blocked the takeover by ruling that the President did not have the constitutional authority to seize the mills. President John F. Kennedy was more successful in 1962 when he pressured the steel industry into reversing price increases that Kennedy considered dangerously inflationary. The federal government prevented U.S. Steel from acquiring National Steel in 1984 and political pressure from the United States Congress forced it to abandon plans to import British Steel slabs. It finally acquired National Steel's assets in 2003 after National Steel went bankrupt. U.S. Steel acquired Marathon Oil in 1982, as well as Texas Oil & Gas several years later. The corporation found itself at the end of the 20th century deriving much of its revenue and net income from its energy operations. U.S. Steel eventually spun off Marathon and non-steel assets, except Transtar, in October, 2001. U.S. Steel maintained the labor policies of Andrew Carnegie, which called for high wages and limited unionization. The Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers union that represented workers at the Homestead, Pennsylvania plant self-destructed after a violent strike in 1892. U.S. Steel defeated another strike in 1901, the year it was founded. U.S. Steel built the city of Gary, Indiana in 1906, 100 years later still the location of the largest integrated steel mill in the Northern Hemisphere. U.S. Steel did reach an impasse with unions during World War I, when under pressure from the Wilson Administration it relaxed its opposition to unions enough to allow some to operate in certain factories. It returned to its previous policies as soon as the war ended, however, and defeated union organizing efforts by William Z. Foster of the AFL, later a leader of the Communist Party of the United States of America. During the 1920s U.S. Steel, like many other large employers, coupled paternalistic employment practices with "employee representation plans" (ERPs) which were company unions sponsored by management. Those ERPs, ironically enough, eventually became an important factor leading to the organization of the United Steelworkers of America. The company dropped its hard-line anti-union stance in 1937, when Myron Taylor, then President of U.S. Steel, agreed to recognize the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, an arm of the CIO led by John L. Lewis. Taylor was an outsider, brought in during the Great Depression to rescue U.S. Steel, and had no emotional investment in the company's long history of opposition to unions. Watching the upheaval caused by the United Automobile Workers' successful sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan and convinced that Lewis was someone he could deal with on a businesslike basis, Taylor sought stability through collective bargaining. The Steelworkers continue to have a contentious relationship with U.S. Steel, but far less so than the relationship that other unions had with employers in other industries in the United States. They launched a number of long strikes against U.S. Steel in 1946 and 1959, but those strikes were over wages and benefits, not the more fundamental issue of union recognition that led to violent strikes elsewhere.  In 1959 a 116-day strike had a significant long-term effect on union-versus-management relations at U.S. Steel, by shutting down 90% of total U.S. steel production. This strike opened the door to steel imports, which had been a negligible factor before then. The long decline of the United States steel industry had begun. By the end of the 20th century thousands of unionised steelworker jobs would be permanently lost due to the effects of low cost imported steel. The Steelworkers union attempted to mollify the problems of competitive foreign imports by entering into a so-called Experimental Negotiation Agreement (ENA) in 1974. This was to provide for arbitration in the event that the parties were not able to reach agreement on any new collective bargaining agreements, thereby preventing disruptive strikes. The ENA failed to stop the decline of the US steel industry. U.S. Steel and the other employers terminated the ENA in 1984. In 1986 U.S. Steel locked out thousands of its employees when it shut down a number of its facilities as a result of a drop in orders on the eve of a threatened strike. Additionally, U.S. Steel and other steel producers demanded extensive concessions from their employees in the early 1980s through the direction of J Bruce Johnston, U.S. Steel Executive Vice President. In a letter to employees on strike in 1986 J Bruce Johnston noted, "There are not enough seats in the steel lifeboat for everybody." In addition to reducing the role of unions, the steel industry had sought to induce the federal government to take action to counteract dumping of steel by foreign producers at below-market prices. Neither the concessions nor anti-dumping laws have restored the industry to the health and prestige it once had. This highly-desirable certificate is in excellent shape. Perfect for framing!  Really an outstanding, uncommon collectible stock!    Offered at a truly fair price. I have tons of certificates for every budget.    Check out my other items! Buyer to prepay for item and $5.25 shipping via USPS Priority Mail. PayPal   is honored for all auctions!!!    I am a verified seller! PLEASE READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is a sample photo only. The certificate for sale has the same color, condition, and vignette.  Differences will be in date, marks, original owner name, serial number, and corporate officers unless otherwise noted.  The quality shipped will be the same or better than pictured.  Refund given if buyer is not satisfied.  Note that we cannot search for a specific date or name due to our large inventory.  Modern certificate pictures often have owner names obscured for privacy. Modern certificates may still be trading in the stock market but no ownership is transferred in this sale - the certificate is sold as a collectible novelty only.  It is likely that the scanned certificate has already been sold but you may ask us to check before bidding. Shipping costs are less than actual cost to us, the seller.  We ship by USPS Priority Mail for fast delivery times.  We use a custom-sized photo mailer with a custom, non-acid slip sleeve for protected shipping.  We allow for combined shipping to save the buyer money for multiple auction wins.  Please wait until all auctions are complete before sending payment. I will not know if you are continuing to bid so I ship when paid.  (If you pay early I will ship and cannot combine shipping on later auctions.)  Please include item numbers with payment for quick, positive feedback and accurate shipping.  Please send only one payment to avoid confusion.    Shipping to Canada or Europe is the same as US shipping.  International bidders purchase at their own risk - no insurance, tracking,  or returns are possible.  Seller is not responsible for items lost in international shipment. Shipping is not negotiable.  Do not ask to ship by other methods.  We do not deliver; we do not allow for pick-up; we do not ship overnight.  We only ship Priority Mail in the US due to better handling and delivery times. Again, our shipping fees are less than our actual costs (We can forward you the breakdown of costs in a templated response e-mail.)   Read the auction for the shipping fees before bidding. Satisfaction is guaranteed for any reason within 30 days.  Authenticity is guaranteed for life.  Refunds will be sent upon return of any unsatisfactory auction item.  If you do not return the item, I assume that you decided to keep it.  Please contact us directly for questions not explained here.   All certificates are only sold as collectibles.  No investment value is implied, transferred, or considered.  No transfer of securities is performed. Certificates are cancelled or obsolete.  (Now really, would I sell a $10,000 investment instrument for $10?)  We follow all  rules on selling stock and bond certificates. We also comply with SEC regulations governing certificate sales and licensing requirements (we are not authorized to sell investments or securities under these rules.) Do not ask us to sell this at a reduced cost  --  use the bidding process.  The minimum price is stated in the auction; the shipping fee is also in the auction.  We believe that we offer very reasonable prices based on both cost and demand.  Please read the shipping costs before bidding. Are these real?  -  YES!  We only sell authentic stocks and bonds that have been used in actual commerce or from company archives.  They have been cancelled and no longer have investment value but are still the real deal.  We do not sell copies.  Active companies (still trading) are also only sold as collectibles.  These have more recent dates due to the methods by which they were obtained. Where's the value in these?  -  Since these pieces no longer have investment value, aren't they worthless?  Literally, they are only worth the paper that they are printed on.  The same can be said for baseball cards and stamps but it is really the collectible value that makes these worthless securities desirable.  These are sold as collectibles or novelties only. Place a Bid!