Spondulix Petroleum Co. / Capital $50,000,000 / Shares 50 cts Each. / Dividends Declared Very Often… / Every Stockholder is Entitled to One Copy of the Famous Petroleum Galop

New York: Wm. A. Pond, 1865. Folio, 13 ½ x 10 ½ inches. Fine condition. Fine. An unusual use of sheet music as satire, with the lithographed cover showing a fake stock certificate. The cover - engraved by Major & Knapp - advertises an ownership share in the Spondolix Petroleum company and states that F.B. Helmsmuller, who was actually a noted composer, was the “Treasurer and General Manager” of the company. This is a particularly fine example of the piece. In our research we found several references to this piece as being a real stock certificate for a real company, however this is clearly a parody of the oil business. This was printed in 1865, when the Pennsylvania oil industry was booming, and the engraved illustration appears to show a countryside scene in Pennsylvania or somewhere similar. Four copies in OCLC.