San Francisco Mining Exchange

San Francisco Mining Exchange
Type	Regional stock exchange
Location	San Francisco, California, United States
Founded	1862 as the San Francisco Stock Exchange
Closed	August 1967
Commodities	Minerals and natural resources

Last updated December 11, 2022

The San Francisco Mining Exchange was a regional stock exchange in San Francisco. Formed in 1862 to facilitate the trading of mining stocks^[1] as the San Francisco Stock Exchange,^[2] the Chicago Tribune described the exchange as "once the West's most flamboyant financial institution."^[3] It sold the name San Francisco Stock Exchange to the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange ^[4] in December 1927^[5] and was renamed the San Francisco Mining Exchange.^[2] The exchange agreed to deal solely in mining securities as part of the same deal,^[4] and also sold its building at 350 Bush Street to the San Francisco Curb Exchange.^[1] After years of ups and downs in the mining market, the exchange had "a second life" during the uranium boom of the 1950s.^[3] By August 1967, it was located in second-floor offices on Montgomery Street, at which point it was the smallest securities market in the United States and had suffered "years of lingering legal and money ailments."^[3] The exchange closed at the age of 105 in August 1967.^[3]^[6]

History

Formation

According to the Chicago Tribune, the exchange was founded after the discovery of Nevada's Comstock lode, and on September 11, 1862, forty founders each paid $50 to form a central market for gold and silver shares.^[3] After years of ups and downs in share value, by 1872 the 40 original memberships had increased to 80, with a value of $43,000 per seat.^[3] Trading declined in the 1880s, but increased again in the early 1920s after an increase in market speculation and trading. In response to the increase, the Mining Exchange hired Miller & Pflueger to design a building at 350 Bush Street. The building opened in 1923, and was a trading hall for mining commodities until 1928.^[1]

1927-1928: Restructuring

By April 23, 1927, the San Francisco Stock Exchange, mining division, and the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange were negotiating over the establishment of the Stock and Bond Exchange as a purely listed market, and the San Francisco Stock Exchange as a curb exchange. To prevent naming confusion, there were talks to have the SF Stock Exchange be named the San Francisco Curb Exchange or Association, with the name 'San Francisco Stock Exchange' to become the property of the Stock and Bond Exchange.^[7]

After earlier reports,^[8] in December 9, 1927, it was reported that an agreement to re-organize the San Francisco Stock Exchange had been authorized,^[5] with changes to take place immediately.^[2] The exchange was renamed the San Francisco Mining Exchange and agreed to deal solely in mining securities, while the name San Francisco Stock Exchange was sold to the Stock and Bond Exchange.^[4] Also, the old building occupied by the original San Francisco Stock Exchange was put for sale.^[2] The new San Francisco Curb Exchange took over the "splendid plant on Bush Street of the old Mining Exchange"^[4] at the 350 Bush Street building,^[1] and started activities in the building on January 2, 1928^[4] as the third security markets in the city.^[2]

Later years

In 1939, George Flach became the exchange's final president. The Chicago Tribune described the exchange as "once the West's most flamboyant financial institution." After years of ups and downs in the mining market, the exchange had "a second life" during the uranium boom of the 1950s.^[3]

By August 1967, it was located in second-floor offices on Montgomery Street, at which point it was the smallest securities market in the United States and had suffered "years of lingering legal and money ailments."It also only had two remaining active brokers: Flach and Raymond Broy, a treasurer with the company since 1933. When Broy wanted to retire due to age and sickness, Flach decided to quit the exchange as well.^[3] The exchange closed at the age of 105 in August 1967. It closed of its own accord, although the Securities and Exchange commission had five and a half years earlier ordered it to close. Flach stated that the exchange had "successfully resisting government revocation of our registration," but that the exchange was closing due to low trading volume.^[3] After the final gong was rung at the second-level trading floor on the southeast corner of Montgomery Street at Pine Street,^[6] the doors were padlocked on August 15 at the close of business.^[3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NYSE American</span> Stock exchange located in New York City

NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known as the New York Curb Exchange.

The New York Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at US$30.1 trillion as of February 2018. The average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013. The NYSE trading floor is at the New York Stock Exchange Building on 11 Wall Street and 18 Broad Street and is a National Historic Landmark. An additional trading room, at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007.

Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange. The ASX was formed on 1 April 1987, through incorporation under legislation of the Australian Parliament as an amalgamation of the six state securities exchanges, and merged with the Sydney Futures Exchange in 2006.

The Toronto Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the 10th largest exchange in the world and the third largest in North America based on market capitalization. Based in the EY Tower in Toronto's Financial District, the TSX is a wholly owned subsidiary of the TMX Group for the trading of senior equities. A broad range of businesses from Canada and abroad are represented on the exchange. In addition to conventional securities, the exchange lists various exchange-traded funds, split share corporations, income trusts and investment funds. More mining and oil and gas companies are listed on Toronto Stock Exchange than any other stock exchange.

The Pacific Exchange was a regional stock exchange in California, from 1956 to 2006. Its main exchange floor and building were in San Francisco, California, with a branch building in Los Angeles, California.

The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange is Israel's only public stock exchange and a public company that has been traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange since August 1, 2019. Legally, the exchange is regulated by the Securities Law (1968), and is under the direct supervision of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA).

JSE Limited is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 2003 the JSE had an estimated 473 listed companies and a market capitalisation of US$182.6 billion, as well as an average monthly traded value of US$6.399 billion. As of March 2022, the market capitalisation of the JSE was at US$1.36 trillion.

The Philippine Stock Exchange, Inc. is the national stock exchange of the Philippines. The exchange was created in 1992 from the merger of the Manila Stock Exchange and the Makati Stock Exchange. Including previous forms, the exchange has been in operation since 1927.

Budapest Stock Exchange(BSE) is the 2nd largest stock exchange in Central and Eastern Europe by market capitalization and liquidity. It is located at 55 Krisztina Boulevard, Budapest, Hungary, in the Buda Centre of the Hungarian National Bank Previously, from 1864, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire it was located in the Budapest Stock Exchange Palace building, until a large trading floor was necessary. The exchange is controlled by listed issuers, by Hungarian private investors and by the central bank. The BSE is member of the World Federation of Exchanges and the Federation of European Securities Exchanges.

Broad Street is a north–south street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. Originally the Broad Canal in New Amsterdam, it stretches from today's South Street to Wall Street.

A trading curb is a financial regulatory instrument that is in place to prevent stock market crashes from occurring, and is implemented by the relevant stock exchange organization. Since their inception, circuit breakers have been modified to prevent both speculative gains and dramatic losses within a small time frame. When triggered, circuit breakers either stop trading for a small amount of time or close trading early in order to allow accurate information to flow among market makers and for institutional traders to assess their positions and make rational decisions.

A regional stock exchange is a term used in the United States to describe stock exchanges that operate outside of the country's main financial center in New York City. A regional stock exchange operates in the trading of listed and over-the-counter (OTC) equities under the SEC's Unlisted Trading Privileges (UTP) rule.

The phrase curbstone broker or curb-stone broker refers to a broker who conducts trading on the literal curbs of a financial district. Such brokers were prevalent in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the most famous curb market existed on Broad Street in the financial district of Manhattan. Curbstone brokers often traded stocks that were speculative in nature, as well as stocks in small industrial companies such as iron, textiles and chemicals. Efforts to organize and standardize the market started early in the 20th century under notable curb-stone brokers such as Emanuel S. Mendels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Stock Exchange Building</span> Building in Manhattan, New York

The American Stock Exchange Building, formerly known as the New York Curb Exchange Building and also known as 86 Trinity Place or 123 Greenwich Street, is the former headquarters of the American Stock Exchange. Designed in two sections by Starrett & van Vleck, it is located between Greenwich Street and Trinity Place in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, with its main entrance at Trinity Place. The building represents a link to the historical practices of stock trading outside the strictures of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), which took place outdoors "on the curb" prior to the construction of the structure.

The San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange was a regional stock exchange based in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 1882, in 1928 the exchange purchased and began using the name San Francisco Stock Exchange, while the old San Francisco Stock Exchange was renamed the San Francisco Mining Exchange. The San Francisco Curb Exchange was absorbed by the San Francisco Stock Exchange in 1938. In 1956 the San Francisco Stock Exchange merged with the Los Angeles Oil Exchange to create the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange.

The San Francisco Curb Exchange was a curb exchange opened in 1928, formed out of a re-organization of the San Francisco Stock and Bond Exchange and the San Francisco Mining Exchange. The San Francisco Curb Exchange replaced the Mining Exchange at the 350 Bush Street building. The Curb Exchange later left the building in 1938, when the Curb Exchange was absorbed by the San Francisco Stock Exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert J. Birnbaum</span> American financial executive (1927–2021)

Robert Jack Birnbaum was an American financial executive who served as president of the American Stock Exchange and president of the New York Stock Exchange. He was the president of the NYSE during the Stock market crash of 1987, dubbed Black Monday. He contributed to the adoption of changes in the exchange's operations after the event, including circuit breakers as trade curbing mechanisms during periods of intense volatility. Birnbaum had earlier worked for the Securities Exchange Commission, where his studies recommended the introduction of the forerunner of the modern National Market System in securities trading.

The New York Stock Exchange Building, in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City, serves as the headquarters of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). It is composed of two connected structures occupying part of the city block bounded by Wall Street, Broad Street, New Street, and Exchange Place. The central section of the block contains the original structure at 18 Broad Street, designed in the Classical Revival style by George B. Post. The northern section contains a 23-story office annex at 11 Wall Street, designed by Trowbridge & Livingston in a similar style.

References

1 2 3 4 350 Bush Street, The Swig Company, retrieved June 2, 2017
1 2 3 4 5 "New Curb Market for San Francisco; Stock and Bond Exchange Votes for Reorganization and Division of Business". New York Times . December 9, 1927. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Mining Exchange Dead at 105". Chicago Tribune . August 27, 1967. Retrieved June 3, 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 "Stock Sales Jump in San Francisco; President of Exchange Shows Increase of 160 Per Cent in Turnover in Year". New York Times . November 4, 1928. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
1 2 "New Curb Market in San Francisco; Stock and Bond Exchange Votes for Reorganization and Division of Business". The New York Times . New York City, New York. December 9, 1927.
1 2 Fracchia, Charles A. (March 1969), "The Founding of the San Francisco Mining Exchange", California Historical Society Quarterly , pp. 3–18, JSTOR 25154324
↑ "Curb Market Planned for San Francisco; Stock and Bond Exchange and Stock Exchange Consider New Arrangement". New York Times . April 23, 1927. Retrieved June 1, 2017.
↑ "San Francisco Exchange Expands". The New York Times . New York City, New York. December 4, 1927. Retrieved April 5, 2017.