Harry Gross: In search of a stock anwser

Dear Harry:

I think the

Daily News

is the best sports paper in the country. Until recently, I rarely read the rest of the paper. Since I found you, I have found other gems. My mother died last week. While cleaning out her house, my sister found two stock certificates of Transit Investment Corporation dated in 1938 and 1948. I'm sending you a photo so you can see just what's involved. The name on the certificates is my grandfather's. He worked for the old PTC as a trolley driver. PTC was the name of the company that existed before SEPTA. Do they have any value, or are they just pretty pieces of paper? I have tried everyone I know in finance from my bank to two stockbrokers. You're my last resort.

What Harry says: The predecessor to PTC was a company called Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT). I did a very diligent search online of your company, PRT and PTC and found nothing at all. I spoke with a stockbroker who came up the same way. It appears to me that Transit Investment Corporation is long gone and the stocks have no value. If you have some extra time, try the Lippincott Library at Penn. It's in the main library building just behind the big button sculpture on the main walkway. That's the old library of the Wharton School, and it may have the info you're looking for. Good luck!

Write Harry Gross c/o the Daily News, 400 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19130. Harry urges all his readers to give blood - contact the American Red Cross at 800-Red Cross.