This share certificate of the Indo-European Railways Company Limited is a historical document of great rarity. Issued in 1884 in the name of Jean Baptiste Bouville, it represents 25 shares of this ambitious company which planned to link London to Bombay by rail — one of the great engineering dreams of the Victorian era. The project for an overland link between Europe and India passed through the Balkans, Anatolia, Persia and Afghanistan, a route that was never fully completed. This venture is set within the context of the great colonial competition for control of the routes to India. The certificate, with its careful Victorian typography and engraved vignettes, is an exceptional example for collectors of British railway and colonial scripophily.