text: trading bonds? a friend recently acquired several book volumes from an estate sale.  in one of the books were several hundred bond certificates.  they are issued to the deceased man; my friend doesn't know how to contact the family.  can he cash in the bonds? your friend won't be able to do anything with the bonds since they are registered in the deceased man.  they would have to be re-registered and without any kind of supporting documentation, the registering agent wouldn't re-issue in your friends name.  best thing would be to perhaps find out from the newspaper who placed the estate ad, or maybe find out who ran the estate auction (if it was an auction).