Beautifully engraved SPECIMEN certificate from the
William J. Burns International Detective Agency, Inc. This historic document was printed by the Security-Colombian Banknote Company and has an
ornate border around it with a vignette of an eagle perched on a rock. This item has the printed signatures of the Company's President ( W. Sherman Burns ) and its Secretary.
Certificate Vignette
The William J. Burns International Detective Agency was founded in 1909 and was headquartered in Chicago. Burns was a man of integrity who had served as a national crime watchdog. During his career, he was known as “the greatest detective the U.S. had ever produced.” In 1921, he was appointed director of the newly formed Bureau of Investigation that later became the FBI. Burns’ drive, determination and commitment to service helped his company grow from a small detective agency to the second largest security provider in the U.S. In 2000, Securitas Group acquired Burns International.
About SpecimensSpecimen 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 were 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 has grown in popularity over the past several years.