how to get historical stock prices?

[lb]

I'm going through my mothers stocks and trying to figure out their cost bases. I found bigcharts.com, which is close enough for some, but I am stumped how to get prices for stocks that no longer exist. In one case, the company went belly up, so just want to declare the loss. In another, it was taken over and converted (and then the new company did a cute trick of cashing out all the accounts less than 100 shares, so I actually have to worry about it for taxes this year!).

I'm looking for prices from early 90s and early 80s.

 

[Marshac]

Call your broker and ask them for prices?

 

[wabmester]

Now the truth is out about "buy and hold." It may make you rich, but figuring out your cost basis is a bitch.

 

[malakito]

Yup. My dad bought AT&T stock over a period of years starting in the 1960's and still owns it.

malakito

 

[Nords]

Oddly enough, try eBay.

Some tabloid-worthy certificates, like Enron, are collectibles. The company may not be worth anything but the certificate may be worth a lot more than the paper it's printed on.

Another option would be Googling the company name and "stock certificate".

There are lots of free resources (just not very well organized) so it's probably not worth paying money to a stock-certificate "appraiser".

 

[Cut-Throat]

Now the truth is out about "buy and hold."   It may make you rich, but figuring out your cost basis is a bitch.

If and when it becomes this difficult for myself, I will push the pencil in my favor

 

[Joe Woody]

The business section of a decent sized city library is likely to be able to give you historical stock prices for that era.

Joe

 

[grumpy]

Guess. It would only become an issue if you are audited.