Pacific Exchange Seat Sells for $110,000, Beating ’87 Record

A seat on the Pacific Stock Exchange in San Francisco has sold for a record $110,000, beating a record that had stood since before the stock market crash of 1987.

The sale price reflects rising prices for seats on other exchanges elsewhere, including the $1.25 million paid for a seat on the New York Stock Exchange. The previous record for the price of a seat on the Big Board was set Sept. 21, 1987, less than a month before the crash.

Pyramid Financial Corp. on Wednesday bought from Engmann Options Inc. the latest Pacific exchange seat to change hands. The old mark set Oct. 9, 1987, for one of the 551 seats on the PSE had been $100,100.

Another seat on the exchange sold Monday for a record $112,000, exchange spokesman Dale Carlson said. That sale has not yet closed.

“This record reflects two things,” Pacific Stock Exchange Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Greber said. “Obviously, the first is the overall strength of the market, which continues to perform well, even in the face of Friday’s correction. The second is the value and opportunity afforded by the exchange to its members.”

From the beginning of the year through the end of February, the volume of stock trading on the Pacific exchange jumped 36% compared with the year-earlier period, while options volume soared by 74%.

The highest current price a potential buyer has posted and said it is prepared to pay for a Pacific exchange seat is $105,000, while the lowest price at which a seller has offered to sell a seat is $125,000. A seat sold earlier this month for $98,000.