Wednesday, August 3, 2011

The Amazing Archives of South Sea Bubble Survivor, C. Hoare & Co.

We last visited Britain's oldest private bank in 2009's "South Sea Bubble Survivor Says Dismantle RBS Along With Lloyds" (worth a click):
....*From deep in the link-vault comes a tiny treasure, an analysis of Hoare's trading during the South Sea bubble (15 page PDF):

Riding the South Sea Bubble
By PETER TEMIN AND HANS-JOACHIM VOTH
This paper presents a case study of a well-informed investor in the South Sea bubble. We argue that Hoare’s Bank, a fledgling West End London bank, knew that a bubble was in progress and nonetheless invested in the stock: it was profitable to “ride the bubble.” Using a unique dataset on daily trades, we show that this sophisticated investor was not constrained by such institutional factors as restrictions on short sales or agency problems....MORE
The bank's archivists have continued to grant access to historians and other academics, there's another paper by Temin and Voth that I've been meaning to post, but for now, a little secret.

Hoare's Bank has been putting some amazing history tidbits on the internet for the last couple years.

The bite-sized ephemera are in a PDF format that is meant to dissuade copying and although my favorite tech guy had them open in a minute, I think, since the bank went to the trouble of trying to lock them, we'll just do some headline links.

Manuscript of the Month
Posted June 2011
Brown Bess Muskets by Henry Nock, 1804

Posted April 2011
Dinner ticket re marriage of Henry Hoare and Lady Mary Marsham, April 1836

Posted March 2011
Willoughby's Cordial for Old Age, c. 1820

Posted January 2011
Letters re John Rogers of Newcastle, 1702-10

Posted October 2010
Coupon Bond, 7% Cotton Loan, 1863

That last little story is almost a parable, it has so many instructive principles and lessons.
We'll link to more next week.
Thanks to C. Hoare & Co. for sharing