A celebration of major anniversaries of global companies will be a focus of the Oct. 18 to 20 Wall Street Collectors Bourse II to be held at the Museum of American Finance in New York City.

The museum, located at 48 Wall St., will once again be open free to those attending the bourse. During the show the museum will have a special exhibit on the life and contributions of Andrew Carnegie.

This year’s show will launch the first “Anniversary Celebration of Important Global Companies.” The “celebration” will recognize significant anniversaries of companies from around the world occurring in 2012. At 10:00 a.m. on Oct. 20 an auction held in conjunction with the celebration will offer objects or services from leading companies celebrating significant anniversaries this year.

The auction will be conducted by Robert Schwartz of Archives International Auctions.

The anniversary celebration will be an annual highlight of future shows, according to bourse sponsors.

According to the sponsors, proceeds from the auction will be used to defray the cost of the auction and excess funds will be shared with local organizations teaching financial history.

The theme for this year’s bourse, “Memorabilia of Finance,” reflects the coins, paper money, stock certificates, medals, tokens and other ephemera that will be available on the bourse.

On the bourse floor beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 20 and continuing through 7 p.m., AIA will conduct an auction of world stock and bond certificates, autographs and paper money.

On Oct. 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., AIA will conduct an auction at its offices in Fort Lee, N.J., of U.S. and world stock certificates, notes and selections from the American Bank Note Commemoratives’ inventory of numismatic and philatelic production material and souvenir cards from the American Bank Note Co. archives.

For more information about the auction, visit the AIA website at www.archivesinternational.com.

In addition, two numismatic organizations will be present during the show. At 8:30 a.m. on Oct. 19 members of the American Numismatic Society will visit the bourse.

At 9 a.m. on Oct. 20 the International Bond and Share Society will host a breakfast meeting for members and guests at the museum.

The bourse, reminiscent of the Strasburg Stock and Bond Bourse in Strasburg, Pa., will again be produced by Herzog & Co.

John E. Herzog, chairman emeritus of Spink/Smythe (now Spink USA) and founder and chairman emeritus of the museum, along with his wife, Diana, operated the Strasburg bourse for nearly 20 years.

The fall show is open to the public from noon to 8 p.m. on Oct. 18, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Oct. 19 and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 20.

For more information about arranging for a table at the Wall Street Collectors Bourse, email Ginny Besas at vhbvhb@aol.com or telephone her at 212-758-8119.

More information is also available at the bourse website at www.wallstreetbourse.com. ¦