I gave myself an Apple, but now it's lost...

October 18, 2010 9:20 AM

How can I find the 1 share of Apple stock I bought about 20 years ago? While the press was proclaiming the death of Apple, I bought one share to show my support (!). I could barely run a computer, much less the internet, but somehow I made an online purchase. I now have NO info about it. Any thoughts on how I could track this down? Thanks, smarties!
posted by largecorp to work & money (11 answers total)

They should have been sending you dividends all along! Did you give them your address at the time when you bought it?
posted by musofire at 9:27 AM on October 18, 2010

Also, did you buy the share from Apple or on a brokerage website?
posted by musofire at 9:28 AM on October 18, 2010

I have a friend who is in the same position. Actually, I sold him the share. He wanted the certificate to put up on his wall, and now it's actually worth something and he can't find it. I'll be watching this thread closely.
posted by alms at 9:41 AM on October 18, 2010

Apple doesn't pay dividends. (DAMN YOU $TEVE P JOB$!!!1)
posted by entropicamericana at 9:43 AM on October 18, 2010

Apple doesn't pay dividends.

You can call Apple's investor relations department at [phone], but if the share was purchased in "street name" (generally the case--where the bank owns the share as your nominee), they may not be able to help you. But in any event, they'll know better where you should turn.

Where did you buy the share?
posted by Admiral Haddock at 9:43 AM on October 18, 2010

You own more than one share now, AAPL has split twice in the past 20 years. Call the 800# listed here. You'll need to know the physical address you were using back then.

Apple stopped paying dividends on common stock in 1995.
posted by jamaro at 9:44 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

I lost stock certificates from another company and just called the company's bank. I filled out a form saying I had lost them, I wrote a small-ish check, and I got new ones -- as book shares this time.

Mind you, I knew the certificate numbers which I think eased the process.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:54 AM on October 18, 2010

Thanks, everybody. This should steer me in the right direction.
posted by largecorp at 10:12 AM on October 18, 2010

Forgive me for questioning your memory, but I doubt it was as long ago as 1990.

If it was more like 1997 -- around the time of Wired's "101 Ways To Save Apple" issue -- it might have been OneShare who sold you the share and certificate, as they're the site I remember doing it at the time, with Apple as one of their featured companies. Since they're still in business, they should have records.
posted by holgate at 10:15 AM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

OTOH, the whole point of OneShare is to get the certificate framed as wall decoration, so it would be a bit less likely to lose it entirely.
posted by smackfu at 10:50 AM on October 18, 2010

Wow - this question made my day. I asked for 1 share of Apple in 1992 for my 12th birthday and pretty much forgot about it since. I may have to ask a new question now about whether or not I should hold onto it or buy myself something awesome.
posted by elvissa at 6:28 PM on October 18, 2010 [1 favorite]