Email this lot to a friend

« Email Address (separate multiple emails with a comma)

hide

Lot 466

translate

email

Rare Trans-Atlantic Cable Advertising Poster

Sign In to see what this sold for

Prints

---

Extremely Rare Trans-Atlantic Cable Advertising Poster

c.1900, Advertising Poster for Direct United States Cable Company, Fine.
This large and impressive poster, measuring 18” x 24,” depicts activity in telegraph offices in England and America in the upper corners, with national shields of the two countries on cartouches below. In the center is an allegorical representation of the cable being pulled on the British side by Neptune and on the American side by Mercury. At the bottom there is a list of the company’s offices in London, overprinted on a beach scene. This poster is somewhat faded, has some edge and corner chipping, and 2 small holes have been drilled through the body, otherwise it is in good shape. Extremely Rare - this is the first of these we have seen.

Despite its name, the Direct United States Cable Company was a British company set up in 1873 by Siemens Brothers of London to link England and the United States directly. The company came under the control of Anglo American in 1877, though it continued to operate under its own name. In 1920 it was purchased by the GPO, but was still operating under the original name into the 1930’s.

Click on thumbnails to see larger images:

View Early American History Auctions next auction.

Similar lots up for auction