how it all started

Like many crazy ideas, the idea for this website was born on a mild summer evening over a beer or two ...

We sat in a group with other befriended investors and talked stocks and speculating declining share prices.

Everybody knew a few companies that consisted of mostly hot air. Just profiting from that fact is much more difficult than you would think.

Since we didn't want to take the unlimited risks of short selling, we wondered if it could be fun to collect items from companies that would be worthless in the future.

Business can't be lectured, it has to be lived... it has to be outlived.

Andre Kostolany

We named this "emotional short selling"! You likely could get a pen from Deutsche Bank in ten years. (well this prediction has become increasingly uncertain over time) But a pen from the Herrstatt Bank? Well that would be something today!

This is how a passion for collecting "worthless stuff" began a few years ago. This has resulted in a collection that has become still decent today. Friends, relatives and acquaintances know this passion and sometimes donate one or the other exhibit.

This website is intended to make a record of this collection of the fictional "capital markets hygiene museum" to remember the story behind the exhibits.