International Harvester Company

Product Details

Beautifully engraved antique specimen stock certificate from the International Harvester Company dating back to the 1960's. This document carries the printed signatures of the company Chairman and Vice President, was printed by the American Bank Note Company, and measures approximately 12" (w) by 8" (h).

The vignette features a pair of male allegories flanking a horse drawn plow and crop workers. 

Images

You will receive the exact certificate pictured.

Historical Context

The roots of International Harvester run to the 1830s, when Virginia inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick perfected his version of a horse-drawn reaper, which he field-demonstrated in 1831 and for which he received a patent in 1834. Together with his brother Leander J. McCormick, he moved to Chicago in 1847 to be closer to the Midwestern grain fields and founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. The reaper sold well, partially as a result of savvy and innovative business practices. Their products came onto the market just as the development of railroads offered wide distribution to distant territories. He developed a vast support network to demonstrate field operations.

McCormick died in 1884 and his company passed to his son, Cyrus McCormick, Jr., whose antipathy and incompetence toward organized labor sparked the Haymarket affair, the origin of May Day as a labor holiday. In 1902, the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and Deering Harvester Company, along with three smaller agricultural equipment firms (Milwaukee Harvesting Machine Co., Plano Manufacturing Co., and Warder, Bushnell, and Glessner—manufacturers of Champion brand) merged to create the International Harvester Company. Banker J.P. Morgan provided the financing. In 1919, IH bought the Parlin and Orendorff factory in Canton, Illinois, a leader in plow manufacturing, renaming it Canton Works.

In 1926, IH's Farmall Works built a new plant in Rock Island, Illinois. By 1930, the 100,000th Farmall was produced. IH next set their sights on introducing a true 'general-purpose' tractor to satisfy the needs of the average American family farmer. The resulting 'letter' series of Raymond Loewy-designed Farmall tractors in 1939 proved a huge success. IH dominated the market through the 1950s despite stiff competition from Ford, Allis Chalmers, Massey Ferguson and John Deere.

IH ranked 33rd among United States corporations in the value of World War II production contracts. In 1946 IH acquired a defense plant in Louisville, Kentucky, which was adapted for production of the Farmall A, B, and the new 340 tractors. It acquired the Metropolitan Body Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1948. The commercially successful Metro line of forward control vans and trucks were produced here from 1938 until 1964.

In 1970, Pacific Trucks was purchased. In 1974, the five-millionth IHC tractor was produced at the Rock Island Farmall plant.

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, despite good sales, IH's profit margins remained slim. The continual addition of unrelated business lines created a somewhat unwieldy corporate organization. Overly conservative management and a rigid policy of in-house promotion tended to stifle new management strategies and technical innovation. IH faced strong competition and increased production costs, primarily due to labor and government-imposed environmental and safety regulations. In 1974 the 5 millionth International Harvester tractor, a 1066, was manufactured.

In 1979 IH named a new CEO, Archie McCardell, who was determined to improve profit margins and drastically cut costs. Unprofitable lines were terminated and factory production was curtailed. By the end of the year, profits were at their highest levels in 10 years but cash reserves were still low. Union members became increasingly irate over these measures and in the spring of 1979, IH prepared to face a strike. On November 1, IH announced McCardell had received a $1.8 million bonus. After he pressed for more concessions from the United Auto Workers, a strike was called on November 2, 1979. By the time it ended, the strike had cost the company almost $600 million (over $2 billion today).

By 1981, the company's finances were at their lowest point ever. The company sold its Payline division of construction equipment to Dresser Industries in 1982. Further assets were sold to Tenneco, Inc., in 1984.

Following the merger, tractor production at Farmall Works ceased in 1985. Production of the new Case IH tractors moved to J.I. Case in Racine, Wisconsin. Production of IH Axial-Flow combines continued at the East Moline, Illinois, factory. The Memphis Works plant was closed. The truck and engine divisions remained and in 1986, Harvester changed the corporate name to Navistar International Corporation, having sold the International Harvester name to Tenneco. Navistar International Corporation continues to manufacture medium- and heavy-duty trucks, school buses, and engines under the International brand name.