Collectors Are Shelling Out $395 for Bear Stearns Stock Certificates

“I should have bought more Lehman” is not something you hear every day.

But it’s an honest regret for Bob Kerstein, who makes a living buying and selling what traditional investors would consider worthless equities. During the financial crisis, JPMorgan Chase & Co. bought Bear Stearns Cos. for $10 a share. Kerstein will sell you one for $395. A share of Countrywide Financial Corp., taken over by Bank of America Corp. for less than $5 a share, will run you $199.95. Prefer fixed income? You can get yourself a piece of a vintage Countrywide collateralized mortgage obligation for $169.95.

An Enron bond certificate.

Photographer: Lexey Swall for Bloomberg Businessweek