50 Shares. brown, green. No 2072. The B.S.A. Co. was formed by Royal Charter in 1889 to work in 'that region of South Africa lying to the north of Bechuanaland and to the west of Portuguese East Africa'. In effect this means the land which became Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. The company's soldiers occupied the whole area, to obtain mining-rights. It set up its capital at Fort Salisbury (now Harare), and introduced post and telegraph links. Europeans were brought in to set up farms, and railway-lines to South Africa and the sea in Portuguese East Africa were built. The line from Salisbury to the Indian Ocean, at Beira, was owned by the Beira Railway Co. The B.S.A. Company was also given powers of administration over the lands north of the Zambesi (today's Zambia) and west of LakeNyasa (today's Malawi). Agreements in the 1920s and 1930s transferred most of the company's rights to the British government. Very decorative, with many vignettes - mining processes, ox-wagons, an African village, train, shields, flowers, the arms of the company, and, in the underprint, a river scene with elephants and ostriches. When the Beira Railway Co. was liquidated in 1949, its shares held by the BSA Co. were distributed to the holders of these certificates. Printed by Waterlow.