183. 1917 Palmer Union Oil Co. certified shares
Manufacturer: Palmer Union Oil Company
Original Price: US$ 5*
Current value: US$ 130 million* (Supposedly)
This piece of paper was the subject of a lawsuit in 2012. This Palmer Oil stock certificate is suspected to be worth $130 million. The Palmer Union Oil Company was founded in California in the early 1900's, and through a long and complicated financial entanglement, Palmer Oil eventually became the Coca-Cola Company.
A man named Tony Marohn purchased this oil certificate in 2008 from a California garage sale. He did a lot of research on the company and ended up stating that this was a certificate of US $ 130 million. He sued Coca-Cola, but unfortunately, he didn't become a millionaire. The court ruled that Marohn had no ownership in this obsolete oil security.