THE ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA
TRUMBLE, CRUIKSHANK & BONE
Messrs Trumble, Cruikshank & Bone are one of the oldest of the Solar System's brokerage firms. Started in a London coffee house during Earth's pre-atomic era, they were founder members of the organisations that would later become the London Stock Exchange and the Baltic Exchange.
Little is known of the founders, although they are believed to have made their fortunes in the South Sea Bubble affair, selling up soon enough to avoid the crash. The only surviving records of the period show that Septimus Bone & Son were active in the Baltic trade at an early period.
T,C&B built up a reputation for being a solid and cautious firm and weathered the vicissitudes that struck down so many of their early competitors. In spite of its cautious nature, the firm recognised the potentiality for inter-planetary brokerage while it was still in its infancy, and was able to establish an ascendancy that remains unbroken to this day.
There are a persistent rumours of a merger between T,C&B and Armstrong Cuthbert Inc, but those in a position to know believe that any such merger would be blocked by the Galactic Administration who would not like to see such a large proportion of the economy in the hands of one firm.
Nonetheless, Messrs Trumble, Cruikshank & Bone are now firmly entrenched as the leading stock and commodity brokers in the system
