SIMON F/WALTER N ROTHSCHILD 'Abraham & Straus' 1926 Stock Certificate, Autograph

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Seller: gold-coast ✉️ (51,345) 99.4%, Location: Brentwood, Tennessee, US, Ships to: WORLDWIDE & many other countries, Item: 373964258544 SIMON F/WALTER N ROTHSCHILD 'Abraham & Straus' 1926 Stock Certificate, Autograph. This is an early stock certificate issued to Simon F. Rothschild, American merchant and philanthropist who served as president and chairman of the board at Abraham & Stras.  It is signed on the reverse by his son, Walter N. Rothschild, grandson of 'Abraham' and later chairman of Federated Department Stores and Trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.  Rothschild signs as executor of the Last Will and Testament of Simon F. Rothschild.

COMPANY: Abraham & Straus, Inc.

DATE: Issued in 1926

CONDITION: Generally clean condition.

From Wikipedia on Simon F. Rothschild:

Simon Frank Rothschild  (June 14, 1861 – January 5, 1936) was an American merchant and philanthropist who served as president and chairman of the board at Abraham & Straus.

Rothschild was born on June 14, 1861, in Eufaula, Alabama, the son of Amanda (née Blun) and Frank Rothschild. He spent most of his childhood in Columbus, Georgia. His grandfather, Nathan Blun, was a prosperous merchant in New York City and Rothschild's family moved to Manhattan in the 1870s. Rothschild attended P.S. 35, the Packard School of Business, and then graduated with a degree in business from the College of the City of New York. In 1878, he went to work at his grandfather's manufacturing business and in 1887, he founded S.F. & A. Rothschild with his brother.

On April 1, 1893, Rothschild in partnership with Nathan Straus and Isidor Straus (who was married to Rothschild's aunt, Ida Blun Straus), bought out Joseph Wechsler's interest in Wechsler & Abraham, co-founded by Rothschild's father-in-law Abraham Abraham, and changed the store's name to Abraham & Straus. The Straus' family provided most of the financing for the transaction as they were flush with cash after their acquisition of a general partnership with Macy's department stores in 1888. Abraham's son, Lawrence Abraham, and son-in-law, Edward Charles Blum, also joined the partnership. Rothschild become vice president in 1920, president in 1925, and chairman of the board in 1930. In 1928, while president, Rothschild began a $7.8 million expansion of the Fulton Street store which opened on October 10, just days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929.  Also in 1929, Rothschild presided over the merger of Abraham & Straus with Filene's, Lazarus, and Bloomingdale's to form Federated Department Stores.  In order to preserve jobs during the Depression, all Abraham & Straus employees took a 10% pay cut; as a result, no employees were laid off.  Abraham served as chairman until his death in 1936.

Rothschild served as president of the Hebrew Educational Society from 1903 to 1908, head of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York from 1908 to 1912, vice-president of the Brooklyn Federation of Jewish Charities and the Brooklyn Council of the Boy Scouts of America; and served as director of the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, the Jewish Hospital, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He was a member of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and the New York State Chamber of Commerce. He served as director of the Associated Merchandising Corporation and the Retail Research Association, and chairman of the New York Retail Drygoods Association. He was a member of the Harmonie Club.

In 1890, he married Lillian Abraham, daughter of Abraham Abraham. they had two children, Walter Nathan Rothschild (b. 1892) and Howard Frank Rothschild (1899–1919). His son Howard died of pneumonia in 1919. Rothschild died of a heart attack on January 5, 1936, at his home in Manhattan. Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan. He was interred at the Salem Fields Cemetery. His son, Walter, married Carola Warburg (1896–1987), daughter of Felix Warburg, and granddaughter of Jacob Schiff. His great-grandson (through his son Walter) is Peter A. Bradford, the husband of Katherine Bradford and father of Arthur Bradford.

From Encyclopedia on Walter N. Rothschild:

Rothschild, Walter N.  (1892–1960), U.S. department-store executive. Rothschild was born in New York City. He began working with his grandfather Abraham *Abraham, a founder of the Brooklyn department store Abraham and Straus. After serving in the Naval Reserve during World War i, he was made general manager of the department store (1925), and under his leadership the store expanded into one of the largest in sales in the city. In 1929 the store came under the holding company Federated Department Stores, Inc., along with *Lazarus of Columbus, Ohio, and Filene's of Boston. Remaining active in the management of Federated and of Abraham and Straus, Rothschild became president of that store in 1937, then chairman (1955), and at his death he was also chairman of Federated Department Stores.

During World War ii, Rothschild served as chairman of the Army-Navy Commission of the National Jewish Welfare Board, overseeing activities in England for a time; he was also on the executive commission of the United Service Organization. He served as trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, on the executive commission of the American Jewish Committee, and as trustee for several other organizations.

His son walter n. rothschild jr. (1920–2003) graduated from Harvard in 1942 with a B.A. before enlisting in the U.S. Army in World War ii. He served as an army officer in Europe in 1942–46. He joined Abraham and Straus in 1950 and rose to be president (1963–69); in the year he stepped down from that position to pursue a civic career, the store was accounted the third largest in New York City, with annual sales estimated at $250 million. During his presidency at A&S, Rothschild was active as liaison agent between the store and the Brooklyn community, in work for a cleaner urban environment, and in improving the quality of merchandise provided by manufacturers.

He served as trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and on several hospital boards, and was a member of the Second Regional Planning Commission. In 1970 he was appointed New York chairman of the Urban Coalition, the national agency devoted to improving urban life (1970–73). He then served as chairman of the National Urban Coalition (1973–77). Rothschild's longstanding interest in providing vocational opportunities for minorities in America was instrumental in the creation of the Ventures Scholars Program, a national nonprofit program designed to promote access to higher learning for young adults interested in pursuing math- and science-based careers.

From Wikipedia on A&S:

Abraham & Straus , commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company, it eliminated the A&S brand. Most A&S stores took the Macy's name, although a few became part of Stern's, another Federated division, but one that offered lower-end goods than Macy's or A&S did.

1800s - The store was founded in 1865 in Brooklyn, New York, as Wechsler & Abraham by Joseph Wechsler and Abraham Abraham. In 1893, the Straus family (including Isidor Straus and Nathan Straus), who acquired a general partnership with Macy's department stores in 1888, bought out Joseph Wechsler's interest in Wechsler & Abraham and changed the store's name to Abraham & Straus. While Abraham & Straus did not at that time become a part of Macy's, the two stores shared an overseas office and maintained close ties.

1900s - Federated Department Stores, Inc. was formed in 1900 as a holding company by several family-owned department stores, including Abraham & Straus, F&R Lazarus & Co. (along with its Cincinnati-based subsidiary, Shillito's), and Filene's of Boston. Corporate offices established in Columbus, Ohio, later moved to Cincinnati. In 1992, Federated Department Stores merges with Allied Stores Corporation. The A&S and Jordan Marsh divisions were consolidated, forming the A&S/Jordan Marsh division, headquartered in Brooklyn, NY. Early in the new year, Macy's files for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. In 1994 the Federated Department Stores acquired the now bankrupt R.H. Macy & Company and combines Macy's, headquartered in New York City, with A&S/Jordan Marsh. In 1995, the name Abraham & Straus is dropped in favor of the more widely known name Macy's. In the few cases where both companies had stores in the same mall, only one building was kept as a Macy's.

2000s - In 2006, a historic bronze plaque honoring Isidor and Ida Straus and memorializing their deaths during the sinking of the RMS Titanic was removed during a 34th Street store renovation, and given to the Straus family.

The first Brooklyn store, at 285 Fulton Street, opened in 1865 and measured 25 feet by 90 feet. Abraham Abraham, age 22, and Joseph Wechsler each contributed $5,000 for the purchase. In 1883, the firm bought the recently built Second Empire cast-iron Wheeler Building at 422 Fulton Street to be their flagship store.

On April 1, 1893, Nathan Straus, Isidor Straus, and Simon F. Rothschild as partners – the Straus brothers provided the financing, but Rothschild was the active partner – bought out Wechsler, and the firm became Abraham & Straus. At the time, the company had 2,000 employees. Simon F. Rothschild, Abraham's son-in-law, Edward Charles Blum, and son, Lawrence Abraham, became partners in the new firm.

By 1900, the company had 4,650 employees. From the 1890s to the 1920s, A&S utilized a system of catalog store agencies across Long Island to serve customers.

In 1912, Isidor Straus, along with his wife Ida, perished in the sinking of the RMS Titanic.

Around 1915, after Abraham's daughter married Isidor's son Percy Selden Straus, the Straus family divided up the empire with Nathan's family running A&S and Isidor's family running Macy's.

Beginning in 1928, the company embarked on a $7.8 million expansion of the Fulton Street Store, which included excavating a new basement without disturbing customers above. The renovated store opened October 10, just days before the Wall Street Crash of 1929. In 1929, the company also joined Filene's, Lazarus, and Bloomingdale's to form Federated Department Stores. To economize during the Depression, the company began scheduling employees according to hourly sales. In addition, all employees took a 10 percent pay cut. No employees were laid off.

In 1937, Walter N. Rothschild led the company, and served as president and chairman until 1955. Following Rothschild, Sidney L. Solomon became the company's first non-family president. At the time, the company had 12,000 employees.

After World War II – The company grew. In 1950, the company purchased Loeser's Garden City store, and two years later, its first new branch store opened in Hempstead, New York.

In the following decades, the company expanded throughout the New York metropolitan area. Among its expansions was an anchor store at Paramus Park in Paramus, New Jersey, which necessitated the building of an access road that, despite the conversion of the store to Macy's, is still today known as A&S Drive.

In the 1970s, Federated attempted to update the image of A&S and funded the construction of new, more upscale stores. A&S developed a new logo that once again branded the stores Abraham & Straus. The company opened a central distribution center which decreased the amount of non-selling space needed in each store.

In 1978, the firm opened the first of its more upscale stores at the Monmouth Mall in Eatontown, New Jersey. This was followed by stores in White Plains, New York in 1980, The Mall at Short Hills in New Jersey, in 1981, and a replacement for the chain's Babylon, Long Island store at Westfield Sunrise Mall.

In 1981 and 1982, the chain opened two stores at malls in the suburban Philadelphia market, The Court at King of Prussia and Willow Grove Park Mall. These new stores struggled to find their niche, and the two Pennsylvania stores were closed in 1987 and 1988, respectively, and the space became occupied by Philadelphia-based Strawbridge and Clothier.

The Short Hills, New Jersey store seemed out of place in the very upscale mall, and customers resisted what were seen to be the store's more rigid policies concerning check acceptance, inter-store transfers, and refunds. Eventually, A&S would stock the Short Hills location with merchandise that better befit the location.

The company's 841,000-square-foot Brooklyn flagship store was located at 422 Fulton Street, in the Fulton Street Mall.

From the beginning, the company had high aspirations. In 1885, the company hired architect George L. Morse to work on the Fulton Street store in Downtown Brooklyn. For their 1928 to 1930 renovations and additions, the company hired architects Starrett & van Vleck to build an Art Deco addition that faced Fulton, Hoyt, and Livingston Streets. In 2003, the Brooklyn Heights Association and the Municipal Art Society put the building on a list of 28 historic buildings in downtown Brooklyn that needed to be protected.

In the mid-1970s, Abraham & Straus' flagship store made mannequin modeling famous. Linda Timmins, head of the division, selected one juvenile and ingénue with "The Editorial Look" from each of the high schools across Brooklyn and Manhattan. The schools and their students were also selected for high academic standing; Manhattan Performing Arts High School student Yvette Post, Metropolitan Opera juvenile star Robert Westin, Brooklyn's Abraham Lincoln High School's Alan Jay Kahm and head cheerleader Paula Gallo, as well as Maria Russo of Catherine McAuley High School (Brooklyn) were some of the few selected to represent the youth of New York. These "Mannequin Models" would pose for up to an hour at a time in the windows of the store as "Living Mannequins", wearing classic designer clothes and current fashions designed by Nik Nik, Pierre Cardin, and other top designers and exclusive prêt-à-porter from upscale fashion houses.

Eventually, as crowds would often stop traffic and became a safety hazard, Abraham & Straus had to move the Living Mannequins inside the store or face a stiff penalty from the city. Despite this change, the crowds still came. Each season, the young mannequin models would be allowed to move in order to do an in-store runway show for the Designer de Jour. Although it was the 1970s, the store did not feature polyester suits or non-designer outfits in these shows.

Unlike countless numbers of downtown department stores that have closed throughout the nation, this historic location continues as a Macy's. At 1,012,000 sq ft (94,000 m2), it is the second-largest Macy's in the New York City area. Macy's utilizes the lower level through 5th floor for retail departments, the 6th floor for seasonal merchandise and a beauty salon, and upper floors for a number of corporate departments. Display windows continue to be maintained along Fulton Street, and the elevator bank in the middle of the street floor continues to evoke hints of this building's elegant past. The passenger elevators at this location were among the last in all of New York City to be converted from manual operator to automatic use. Macy's has continued to reaffirm its commitment to this location.

On July 16, 2014, Women's Wear Daily' reported that Macy’s had stopped the renovation of its Brooklyn flagship while it considered possibly selling the property, which could be worth $300 million from a developer looking to turn it into condominium apartments. It had also been reported that Macy's was considering building a new Downtown Brooklyn store.

By 2016, the decision was made to remain in the current location, but consolidate the space into four level floors and sell off the remaining floors. As of 2018, the work continues to progress.

From Wikipedia on Nathan Strauss:

Nathan Straus (January 31, 1848 – January 11, 1931) was a German-born, American merchant and philanthropist who co-owned two of New York City's biggest department stores, R.H. Macy & Company and Abraham & Straus.

Nathan Straus was born to a Jewish family in Otterberg in the former Palatinate, then ruled by the Kingdom of Bavaria, the third child of Lazarus Straus (1809–1898) and his wife, Sara (1823–1876). His siblings were Hermine Straus Kohns (1846–1922), Isidor Straus (1845–1912), and Oscar Solomon Straus (1850–1926). The family moved to the U.S. state of Georgia in 1854. After losing everything in the American Civil War the family moved to New York City, where his father formed L. Straus & Sons, a crockery and glassware firm.

On April 28, 1875, Straus married Lina Gutherz (1854–1930), with whom he had six children: Jerome Nathan Straus (1876–1893); Sara Gutherz Straus (1877–1878); Sara "Sissie" Straus (1879–1950), married to Irving Lehman (1876–1945), Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1940 until his death; Roland Straus (1881–1884); State Senator Nathan Straus Jr. (1889–1961); and Hugh Grant Straus (1890–1961).

Straus and his brothers sold crockery to R.H. Macy & Company department store. The brothers became partners in Macy's in 1888 and co-owners in 1896.

In 1893 he and Isidor bought out Joseph Wechsler from the Abraham and Wechsler dry-goods store in Brooklyn, New York, which they renamed as Abraham & Straus.

In the late 1880s Straus began a period of philanthropy and public service in New York City. He served as Parks Commissioner from 1889 until 1893, president of the Board of Health and Commissioner of the Department of Health in 1898, and in 1894 he was selected by Tammany Hall to run for Mayor on the Democratic ticket, but withdrew from the race when his friends in society threatened to shun him if he did.

In 1892 he and his wife privately funded the Nathan Straus Pasteurized Milk Laboratory to provide pasteurized milk to children to combat infant mortality and tuberculosis. In his battles with the disease he opened the Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children at Lakewood Township, New Jersey (later it was moved to Farmingdale, New Jersey) in 1909. Their book, Disease in Milk: The Remedy Pasteurization: The Life Work of Nathan Straus records that unclean, unpasteurized milk fed to infants was the chief cause of tuberculosis, typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria and other diseases that were the main cause of a 25% infant mortality rate in the U.S. in 1890, 15% in 1903 (but 7% in New York in 1900, where pasteurized milk had already become the norm) (it is now below 1% in the U.S.). Straus is credited as the leading proponent of the pasteurization movement, which eliminated the hundreds of thousands of deaths per year then due to disease-bearing milk.

During the economic panic of 1893, Straus used his milk stations to sell coal at the very low price of 5 cents for 25 pounds to those who could pay. Those who could not received coal free. He also opened lodging houses for 64,000 people, who could get a bed and breakfast for 5 cents, and he funded 50,000 meals for one cent each. He also gave away thousands of turkeys anonymously. At Abraham & Straus he noticed that two of his employees were starving themselves to save their wages to feed their families, so he established what may have been the first subsidized company cafeteria.

In 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Straus donated an ice plant to Santiago, Cuba. He was appointed by President William Taft as the sole United States delegate to the International Congress for Protection of Infants, in Berlin 1911, also delegate to the Tuberculosis Congress, in Rome, Italy, 1912.

Straus retired in 1914 to devote his time to charity. During the winter of 1914–15, he served 1,135,731 penny meals for the unemployed from his milk depots in New York City. In 1916, as American entry into World War I loomed, he sold his yacht Sisilina to the Coast Guard, and used the proceeds to feed war orphans. Later he fed returning American servicemen at Battery Park.

Straus donated money to the New York Public Library, specifically targeting young people. The Young People's Collection at the Donnell Library Center is named for him. He also helped the city's poorer inhabitants by building a recreational pier, the first of many on the city's waterfront.

Upon touring the Mediterranean with Lina in 1904, the couple stopped over in Palestine, expecting it to be but one stop of many. He wrote, "On reaching Jerusalem, we changed our plans. All that we saw in the Holy Land made such a deep impression on us that we gave up the idea of going to other places. Visiting the holy sights of which one hears and reads since childhood, watching the scenes in life as pictured in the Bible, was most soul-stirring. From that time on we felt a strange and intense desire to return to the land." Nathan and Lina became staunch Zionists. He built soup kitchens for the aged and the blind and the physically defective in 1917. He supported workrooms so that unskilled laborers could find employment. He built health stations which ministered to the victims of malaria and trachoma. He believed strongly in palliative care. He provided $250,000 for the establishment of the Jerusalem Health Center and made possible the founding of a Pasteur Institute. He lent moral and material support to the farmers and colonists of Israel and labored in the interests of the Hebrew University.

The Israeli city of Netanya (Hebrew: Natan, for Nathan), founded in 1927, was named in his honor, and Rehov Straus (Straus Street) in Jerusalem, which was Chancellor Avenue during the British Mandate, was also named for him.

Nathan Straus died on January 11, 1931, in Manhattan, New York City. Twenty years earlier, at a dinner in his honor, he had given what could have been his own eulogy.

I often think of the old saying, "The world is my country, to do good is my religion. ... This has often been an inspiration to me. I might say, "Humanity is my kin, to save babies is my religion." It is a religion I hope will have thousands of followers.

He is interred at Beth El Cemetery, also called New Union Field Cemetery, in Ridgewood, Queens.

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