Page 78 - Mellinato, Giulio, and Aleksander Panjek. Eds. 2022. Complex Gateways. Labour and Urban History of Maritime Port Cities: The Northern Adriaticin a Comparative Perspective. Koper: University of Primorska Press.
P. 78
plex Gateways
had significantly greater stakes; Urbano Arnoldt, the largest individual
investor, entered the Company with sixty shares; however, the main in-
vestors with their family members had many more (Kobler 1896, 87–9;
ÖStA, FH, vol. 103).
In the beginning, the company was named after Proli; however, lat-
er it began to be called after Arnoldt. His position was probably settled
by a deal between the two leading groups, the Prolis and the Moretuses.
Although both families invested more than Arnoldt himself did, he was
the most suitable person to be the director, as an enterprising foreigner
acceptable to both sides. Although the Proli family had the largest own-
ership stake in the Company, the Moretus group was also close to them.
Despite the initial thousand shares, with the founding of the
Company two thousand shares worth a thousand forints each were is-
sued, in total an amount of two million forints.11 By far the largest num-
ber of shares, as many as three quarters, were bought by bankers and
merchants from Antwerp in the Austrian Netherlands (today’s Belgium),
who were also joined by a few foreigners, investors from the Northern
Dutch Provinces (United Provinces) such as the bank Pye & Cruikshank
of Amsterdam (Michielsen 1936, 40–1).12
Privilegierte Handlungs-Kompagnie zu Triest und Fiume – the Privileged
Trieste-Rijeka Trading Company – was entirely in the hands of the
Flemish, so the leading people in Vienna feared that the Austrian inter-
ests in Antwerp, where the majority of the owners were gathered, would
be endangered. Therefore, the Court Chamber requested the headquar-
ters of the Company to be in Vienna. The Chamber’s special envoy Franz
von Mygind (1710–1789), Chotek’s secretary (secretarius), better known as
a botanist and the director of the Vienna Botanical Garden than as a pol-
itician, failed to secure the dominance of Vienna at a meeting of share-
holders in Antwerp. However, as a consolation, he did succeed in securing
the appointment of the third member of the board, one of the directors
11 Amongst the first to enter the Company was the Court’s Banking Commission
(Banco Hofdeputation), who bought 144 shares on 20 October 1750, and, together
with other investors, the Austrian share was limited to a total of 276 shares.
12 By 13 December 1750, 1,100 shares had been sold, of which the Viennese owned
276 and the Antwerp merchants 842. The number of shares later grew. The share
of the leading Viennese and Austrian investors in one of the first lists was: The Vi-
enna Banking Commission (Wiener Banco Kommission) 144, Count Taffe 24, Em-
press Maria Theresa 12, and all others equally: Rudolf Chotek, Jean Charles Cho-
tek, Count Ulfeld, Count Esterhasy, Count Joseph Kinsky, and Wober and Joseph
Belusco from Trieste.
78
had significantly greater stakes; Urbano Arnoldt, the largest individual
investor, entered the Company with sixty shares; however, the main in-
vestors with their family members had many more (Kobler 1896, 87–9;
ÖStA, FH, vol. 103).
In the beginning, the company was named after Proli; however, lat-
er it began to be called after Arnoldt. His position was probably settled
by a deal between the two leading groups, the Prolis and the Moretuses.
Although both families invested more than Arnoldt himself did, he was
the most suitable person to be the director, as an enterprising foreigner
acceptable to both sides. Although the Proli family had the largest own-
ership stake in the Company, the Moretus group was also close to them.
Despite the initial thousand shares, with the founding of the
Company two thousand shares worth a thousand forints each were is-
sued, in total an amount of two million forints.11 By far the largest num-
ber of shares, as many as three quarters, were bought by bankers and
merchants from Antwerp in the Austrian Netherlands (today’s Belgium),
who were also joined by a few foreigners, investors from the Northern
Dutch Provinces (United Provinces) such as the bank Pye & Cruikshank
of Amsterdam (Michielsen 1936, 40–1).12
Privilegierte Handlungs-Kompagnie zu Triest und Fiume – the Privileged
Trieste-Rijeka Trading Company – was entirely in the hands of the
Flemish, so the leading people in Vienna feared that the Austrian inter-
ests in Antwerp, where the majority of the owners were gathered, would
be endangered. Therefore, the Court Chamber requested the headquar-
ters of the Company to be in Vienna. The Chamber’s special envoy Franz
von Mygind (1710–1789), Chotek’s secretary (secretarius), better known as
a botanist and the director of the Vienna Botanical Garden than as a pol-
itician, failed to secure the dominance of Vienna at a meeting of share-
holders in Antwerp. However, as a consolation, he did succeed in securing
the appointment of the third member of the board, one of the directors
11 Amongst the first to enter the Company was the Court’s Banking Commission
(Banco Hofdeputation), who bought 144 shares on 20 October 1750, and, together
with other investors, the Austrian share was limited to a total of 276 shares.
12 By 13 December 1750, 1,100 shares had been sold, of which the Viennese owned
276 and the Antwerp merchants 842. The number of shares later grew. The share
of the leading Viennese and Austrian investors in one of the first lists was: The Vi-
enna Banking Commission (Wiener Banco Kommission) 144, Count Taffe 24, Em-
press Maria Theresa 12, and all others equally: Rudolf Chotek, Jean Charles Cho-
tek, Count Ulfeld, Count Esterhasy, Count Joseph Kinsky, and Wober and Joseph
Belusco from Trieste.
78
