How do I redeem a stock certificate that's 20 years old.?

Question

I was digging through some old files and found a stock certificate for Empire Bancorp, which was given to me as a gift when I was a child. I tried looking online for more details of the Bank but none of them looked relevant. Does anyone know how I can go about tracking down the source of this stock? If the bank still even exists? Etc. etc. Oh, byt the way, there are no addresses or phone numbers on the stock certificate itself.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You want to contact the transfer agent because they probably have the appropriate information.

What address/state is the stock registered under?

if its CA for example, you want to contact the state of california because if you haven't had account activity in 3-5 years(and you say you haven't since 20 yrs) property is usually handed over to the state and state keeps it for you for as long as it takes for you to collect your property.

your state government has your stock.

Answer 2

If you use a brokerage firm, you can have them help you, there's a book of obsolete securities that all brokerage operations use. Have your broker check it out.    The book provides that status and/or history of securities that have been issued.  

On the face of the certificate it will provide the name of the "transfer agent", you can contact them.  You will have to provide them with the name on the certificate and the certificate number.

Also on the face of the certificate is the company's state of incorporation,  You can contact the secretary of the state and they should be able to provide you details with respect to the companies charter.

They never put the address and/or phone numbers on stock certificates.