Professor Emanuel on options 1875

Options have actively been trading for at least 400 to 500 years. Some academics (luckely not all) still think options and derivatives basically got invented in the early 1970s, or that at least traders not could properly price or hedge options before that time. I just got hold of a small option booklet written by

Professor Dr. Emanuel Leser

He was a professor in Staatswissenschaft at university of Heidelberg. His booklet was published in 1875. I find it interesting that he is referring to option literature all the way back to the 1600. Another ignored and forgotten German source I got hold of today from a library with high security and a great selection of dusty old books mentions option trading all the way back to 1500.

How can it be that options have traded for at least 400 to 500 years, and that both traders and professors have published actively about them for many hundred years and still some of today’s finance professors think people hardly could price or hedge options before 1973?

More on this and other ignored and forgotten sources later on. Financial Archeology is quite interesting indeed.

Leser, E. (1875): “Zur Geschichte Der Pramiengeshafte”. University of Heidelberg