Tiffany's Transatlantic Cable Souvenir
date: label: date made
content: 1858
name: label: maker
content: Glass, Elliot, & Co.
label: maker
content: Tiffany & Co.
notes: label: Description
content: The completion of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858 was a cause for much celebration on both sides of the Atlantic. Tiffany & Company of New York purchased the cable remaining on board the USS <i>Niagara</i> after the successful completion of the cable and sold 4-inch sections as souvenirs. Each section of cable was banded at the ends with brass ferrules and had a brass plaque that read “ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE/GUARANTEED BY/TIFFANY & CO./ BROADWAY • NEW YORK • 1858.” The cable souvenirs originally sold for 50 cents and came with a reproduced letter of authenticity from Cyrus W. Field, the pioneer of the transatlantic cable system. The jubilation turned to jeers when the cable failed a few weeks later, and Tiffany never sold its supply of cable. In 1974 Lanello Reserves began reselling the transatlantic cable, and donated this object to the Smithsonian.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York
label: place made
content: United Kingdom: England, London, Greenwich
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Electricity
label: See more items in
content: Communications
label: See more items in
content: American Stories exhibit
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: from Silver Creations, Ltd. and Lanello Reserves Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: EM.334736.01
label: accession number
content: 312154
label: catalog number
content: 334736
objectType: label: Object Name
content: submarine cable
label: Object Name
content: cable sample
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: steel (sheathing material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (ferrules material)
label: Physical Description
content: copper (conductor material)
label: Physical Description
content: gutta percha (insulator material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 1/2 in; 10.16 cm x 1.27 cm