Ferdinand de Lesseps Autograph

Exceptional autograph letter signed, one page, 5,25 x 8 inch, Paris, 12.03.1879, in French, to a colleague - concerning currency fluctuations and investments, written and signed in black ink "Ferd. de Lesseps", attractively mounted (removable) for fine display with a picture of Ferdinand de Lesseps (altogether 12,75 x 9 inch), with intersecting letter folds, mild foxing and toning to the edges - in fine condition.

In parts:
"Mon cher collègue,
Je suis tellement étranger aux fluctuations de la devise que je ne pourrais vous donnez une conseil au sujet de votre désir d'acquérir du tout. [...] le cours est donc cher.
   Cependant le placement est toujours sûr si l`en veut garder car l`avenir promet aseder plus que le présent.
   votre bien dévoué - Ferd. de Lesseps"

Translated:
"My dear colleague,
I am so unfamiliar with currency fluctuations that I could not give you any advice regarding your desire to acquire at all. [...] the course is therefore expensive.
   However, the investment is always safe if you want to keep it because the future promises to be better than the present.
   Yours sincerely - Ferd. de Lesseps"

In 1858 Count Ferdinand de Lesseps founded the Suez Canal Company. Eleven years later the canal with a length of 168 kilometres was opened. After the company was already in the black in 1874, its market price continued to increase over the following years. However, de Lesseps was already thinking about the next coup: he began to develop plans for a Central American canal. Therefore, in 1880, he founded the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interoceanique de Panama. Due to the Suez boom, the issue which had been established at 600,000 shares was soon oversubscribed.