Book: The most important opera on the Scripophily di Alberto Puppo

A UNIQUE VOLUME TO DISCOVER THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN FINANCE

VERBANIA –  It has just been edited, in a limited edition, the volume “ Scripophily. The collection of historical financial securities. Italy. From the pre-unification States to the Republic”. This is a unique work of its kind both for editorial quality and for the exclusive content.  The volume has been edited by Alberto Puppo and the Scripo srl team, and contains texts by the journalist and writer Andrea Dallapina, the financial expert Alex Ricchebuono ( also collector and television host of Money Art on Rai 5), and another expert of finance such as Eleuterio Marinoni.  All the writings, which analyze Scripophily with phenomenological and historical imprints, are introduced both in Italian and English thanks to the translation by Stefania Tavazzani. The work has the purpose to turn the spotlight on the financial securities world , so called Scripophily, highlighting new points of view. Alberto Puppo has been in the industry for more than twenty years, and he  heads  the Scripo srl, publishing house of the volume, based on  Lake Maggiore. He explains : “it’s time for Scripophily to be  considered   not only as a form of collecting, but also because of the two other aspects that will be strategic for the future”.

For Puppo, in fact, “ Scripophily is to be considered as an investment form, similar to what happens to works of art. Historical financial securities are a market that has grown a lot in recent years, and it’s therefore mature for institutional investors or funds managers”. 

But there is another aspect for which  Scripophily may have increased interest in the media. Puppo explains : “ in an era in which finance has become immaterial and appears to be something indecipherable to most,  through its history and the culture of finance is possible to  attract all those who are not involved in this form of art, starting from the new generations, to let them know the way through which we came to today’s financial development”. Scripophily can be a key element of  dissemination, and a education project to financial management.

From a typographic point of view it is noted that the volume comes out under the care of Marco Loce, leader of  Design & Artbook,  a company based in Novara specializing in rare and high quality editions, boasting some volumes worthy of the Guinness Book of Records. In fact “Scripophily” has a large format (33,5x48 cm), and contains 1200 color pages, including a thousand dedicated to full-page reproduction of faiths of credit, share coupons, and other financial documents.  These are, in some cases, very rare, telling about companies, banks, businesses that have made the history of Italian economic development. In other cases there are the names of companies or cooperatives that have echoed only in a small valley or in a smaller village, but which testify the industriousness and the will of a people for enterprise.  A volume of encyclopedic taste, born from the will to preserve and transmit historical documents. 

Due to its refinement and limited edition, the Work is for sale at 2,500 euros, and it’s provided  with an appropriate lectern and the certificate of numbered copy.

1. How long are you in Scripophily ? (collecting / trading).  : I inherited my passion for Scripophily from my father Roberto Puppo (born in 1937 and died in 2003). He was an insurance agent of  Verbania General Insurance Agency of Milano Insurance S.p.A..  He held for 29 years the position of National Secretary and Treasury of the Group of Agents of “La Previdente Assicurazioni”, the only one in the history of the Insurance Agents Groups in Italy.  He held various political positions at a local, regional and national level. He has been the Secretary of the Rotary Club of Pallanza-Stresa from 2000 and a founder member of the Cultural Association “The Club of Verbania in 2001”. His passion brought him to collect historical financial documents. For more than twenty years, having worked on the development of the Internet in Italy and on other international projects, I begun to turn the love for my father’s paper into an activity that would bring to collect even more securities, but also to catalog them into a number of web projects and to divulge their historical and financial value.
2. Your Scripo business activies: For a long time, with my Company Scripo srl, we are trying to create a kind of websites galaxy: the goal is to create a series of cultural project and to deepen the history of Scripophily, as well as a portal dedicated to the on-line selling.  Our experience  and my specialization have given way to founding the Scripopass brand - Certificate of Authentication,  now recognized internationally.  Thanks to our huge database of historical securities and the partnerships we have made all over the world, we are able to certify the authenticity of historical or ancient financial documents. 
3. Your Scripo educational etc. activities / exhibition…:  Given the publication of the Scripophily volume, in addition to the online aspects, in the coming months we wish to organize events and presentations in order to raise awareness in two directions: on one hand to financial sector operators for them to understand that finance has a story and a soul to be known.  On the other hand, we want to turn to the new generations, because the history of finance is in fact a great black hole for what concerns the  education, and we assume that this is not allowed in our society today. We have founded a currently online media in transition, that can be reached at www.scripomarket.com with the aim of bringing the world of quality collection closer to that of finance and investments.  The services will be expanded in real time, with the presence of our operators within the industry events, sections with online videos and historical/cultural insights, update of events, business meetings with auctions houses , news and insights and much more in development. We are looking for international collaborators, editorial contributions, articles and historical/cultural insights. We are available to evaluate trade agreements and partnerships.  The most important surprise and the one we are most committed to, is the realization of our new great venue with offices, archive room and event rooms. It will be a place of culture and sharing, but also for wellness and relax, immersed in a beautiful park with wonderful views of Lake Maggiore in Italy.  We are already operating in this place, but the end of the work is scheduled for the first months of 2018. Our archive contains thousands of historical/financial documents and it’s constantly updated. 
4. Some lines about your ambitious book project:  The recently edited volume is a monumental work: 1200 pages, thousands of which entirely dedicated to the reproduction of Italian historical securities into a large format. It goes from the faiths of credit to the pre-unification States, then the Kingdom and the Republic. I hope it can be the first step to make this precious collection an innovative museum that can tell everyone what Scripophily is, including young people and all those who are not involved in it.  Scripophily is love for document, history, economics and finance.  The book will be linked to the new website www.scripomuseum.com , and there is a section to insert the page number of the book and getting updates about the document’s history, historical insights, historical photos and videos, quotes and rarities indices.  The online museum is constantly updated and we expect to exceed over 10.000 catalogs of Italian and international securities in the short term.  Book title and features: Scripophily. The collection of Italian financial securities. Italy. From the pre-unification States to the Republic” by Alberto Puppo- Italian and English edition. Publisher: SCRIPO SRL- ISBN: 8894273008- Size 33,5x48 cm, leather binding, Fedigroni Tatami White paper 135 grams, Bodoniana binding, precious and collectable book.  It is delivered in a customized box contained the certificate, the documentation and a wooden lectern made for the work exhibition. 
5. Do personally collect Scripophily? If yes, what?:  I personally collect securities from all over the world.  I greatly appreciate all those who has also seen the contribution of important artists in the illustration, or have the signature of famous people. In particular, I am passionate of Italian historical securities, because they are the ones I first met thanks to my Dad.
6. Your favorite certificate?  The certificates i love the must are  those of  the Pawnshops of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and in general those of the ancient Italian pre-unification States.