Atlantic City Gas Company - New Jersey 1910

Beautiful engraved RARE Gold Bond Specimen certificate from the Atlantic City Gas Company dated 1910. This historic document was printed by American Bank Note Company and has an ornate border around it with a vignette of an allegorical woman in front of the gas company. This item is over 96 years old.




Certificate Vignette

South Jersey Gas traces its roots back to 1910 when Atlantic City Gas and Water Company was merged into the Atlantic City Gas Company, owned by Clarence H. Geist. This was the first in a series of acquisitions that would eventually create South Jersey Gas. Geist acquired Peoples Gas Company in 1922 and a number of smaller companies over the next five years.

By 1930, he was recognized as the largest holder of utility stocks in the country. That year, Peoples and Atlantic City Gas Company were sold to Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, who operated them until 1948. In 1948, the Securities and Exchange Commission ordered Public Service, which owned all of South Jersey Gas' stock, to distribute the common stock to its shareholders. Just before the two companies became independent of Public Service, Peoples merged into Atlantic City Gas Company.

The company was named South Jersey Gas Company and its new headquarters was located in Atlantic City. During the 1950s, the company acquired gas distribution properties in Cumberland and Salem counties. The Cape May County distribution facilities were purchased from New Jersey Natural Gas Company in 1983

In 1910, South Jersey Gas began as Atlantic City Gas Company.

In 1922, Atlantic City Gas Company acquired several gas companies in what is now the western portion of South Jersey Gas' service territory. These companies merged to form People's Gas Company, in Glassboro, New Jersey.

In 1947, Atlantic City Gas Company & People's Gas Company merged to form South Jersey Gas. South Jersey Gas grew through acquisition and by 1960 served Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem and parts of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties.

In 1964, South Jersey Gas installed its 100,000th gas meter.

In 1969, South Jersey Industries, Inc. was formed as a holding company to provide South Jersey Gas' shareholders with investment growth opportunities.

The '70s were a slow growth era for SJG and most other gas utilities due to natural gas supply shortages and severe curtailments brought on by the energy crisis.

The '80s brought prosperity to South Jersey Gas as the casino industry burst on to the Atlantic City scene and brought about unprecedented housing and business growth to southern New Jersey. By 1980, South Jersey Gas had over 126,000 customers.

In 1983, South Jersey Gas expanded its service area by acquiring the rights to serve Cape May County.

In 1987, South Jersey Gas added its 200,000th gas meter.

In 1995, South Jersey Gas installed its 250,000th gas meter.

In 1996, South Jersey Gas celebrated the addition of its 250,000th natural gas customer.

In 2003, South Jersey Gas celebrated the addition of its 300,000th natural gas customer.

Today, South Jersey Gas is seeing continued growth in the Atlantic City region due to the resort's expansion of existing casinos and the influx of new casinos, businesses and people to the area. South Jersey Gas looks ahead to a bright future in the region powered by natural gas.

History from Wikipeida and OldCompanyResearch.com.

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About Specimens

Specimen Certificates are actual certificates that have never been issued. They were usually kept by the printers in their permanent archives as their only example of a particular certificate. Sometimes you will see a hand stamp on the certificate that says "Do not remove from file".

Specimens were also used to show prospective clients different types of certificate designs that were available. Specimen certificates are usually much scarcer than issued certificates. In fact, many times they are the only way to get a certificate for a particular company because the issued certificates were redeemed and destroyed. In a few instances, Specimen certificates we made for a company but were never used because a different design was chosen by the company.

These certificates are normally stamped "Specimen" or they have small holes spelling the word specimen. Most of the time they don't have a serial number, or they have a serial number of 00000. This is an exciting sector of the hobby that grown in popularity over the past several years.