When you purchase stock in a publicly traded company, you become a shareholder and are eligible to own a stock certificate of ownership, if the company issues those. In the past, some of these certificates have become collectible works of art or memorabilia, as companies put additional effort into creating attractive looking documents. Stock certificates usually look kind of like a university diploma, with a lot of fancy writing and the logo of the company proudly displayed. But what is more important than what they look like is what they represent when it comes to ownership rights and rewards.