The Wilson Sporting Goods Company's roots go back to a meat packing plant in 1913. They began to use animal by-products to make tennis racket and violin strings. They expanded into baseball shoes and other sporting goods. The company was later renamed the Thomas E. Wilson Company after the former president of the meat packing plant. They would ultimately become the Wilson Sporting Goods Company in 1931. The are the official football provider for the NFL. They will become the official ball of the NBA in 2021.

This Wilson Sporting Goods Co Specimen Stock Certificate was printed in the 1960s and features William P. Holmes as President.

Specimen stock certificates are certificates that were archived by printers and the company as perfect examples of the company’s stock issue. Specimen’s can be identified by their “specimen” stamp, stamped holes spelling “specimen”, or they are often issued with a serial number of a series of zeros. Often, they are also issued with no serial number at all. Specimens can also represent a design that was never issued. All of these attributes make the specimen stock certificate rarer than the issued version of the share. Many enthusiasts collect specimens as a whole new category of Scripophily.