The firm was named Curbstone in honor of a place and group of people which came together more than a century ago and better describes the principals of this firm than anything on Wall Street ever since.
In the 1800s, many financial and ethnic backgrounds precluded traders from Wall Street’s private club inside the New York Stock Exchange. So, they gathered outside instead, alongside a curb on Broad Street just south of the NYSE.
Certain stocks were not popular enough to be listed on the NYSE inside, so these “Curbstone Brokers” traded them in an open auction outside, in all weather. They accepted small groups of members and certain stocks that were completely unappealing to the big crowds inside.
Among the stocks first traded alongside the Curb were from producers of hard assets, which were of little interest elsewhere. This unusual approach was successful enough that the Curbstone Brokers not only moved inside, but later became the American Stock Exchange.
Our three portfolio managers chose to avoid swelling crowd on Wall Street and in 2006 and 2007, resigned from Citigroup and Lehman Brothers, to launch their own firm. Our principals left successful careers, managing assets inside each firm for private and institutional capital. They were convinced, like the original Curbstone brokers, that Wall Street focused on the wrong criteria for membership and security selection.