Historical Stock Exchange slang - Fags and the Kaffir Circus

[halcombe]

Just looking at Chilean site, and a train of thought set off.

Antofagasta, the copper company - British registered, but with its
main business in Chile - was once known on the Stock Exchange Floor
(when there was one) as 'Fags'.

It's only one of a number of such nicknames for stocks, most of which
have disappeared, even if the companies to which they referred are
still going. (As is Antofagasta.)

South African gold mining company shares are still apparently known as
'kaffirs' [1]. The sector of the market that dealt in the shares
following the gold rush in the Rand was called the 'Kaffir Circus'.
The participants were notable in including a numbers of Jews - such as
the Barnato brothers and Alfred Beit - on which Henry Adams offers a
sniffy quote [2].

I have a 1920s book somewhere with a list of such nicknames - more
examples if it surfaces.

[1] http://www.marketvolume.com/glossary/k0001.asp
[2] http://www.ety.com/HRP/booksonline/antizion/A.htm (use 'Find')