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1860s Phelps-Hamilton Civil War Telegraph Set

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Autographs Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 2,500.00 USD
1860s Phelps-Hamilton Civil War Telegraph Set

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Auction Date:2020 Jul 16 @ 18:00 (UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT)
Location:15th Floor WeWork, Boston, Massachusetts, 02108, United States
ALS - Autograph Letter Signed
ANS - Autograph Note Signed
AQS - Autograph Quotation Signed
AMQS - Autograph Musical Quotation Signed
DS - Document Signed
FDC - First Day Cover
Inscribed - “Personalized”
ISP - Inscribed Signed Photograph
LS - Letter Signed
SP - Signed Photograph
TLS - Typed Letter Signed
Very early circa 1860s Civil War–era telegraph set, mounted on a wooden 8˝ x 5˝ base, faintly marked: "Hamilton Electrical Works, Albany, N.Y." The set features a handsomely crafted brass 'camelback' telegraph key with hairpin spring and shorting switch on the side, engraved "G. M. Phelps Maker" on the key's edge, and marked with serial number "4813" on the base. On the left side is a very early and primitive sounder by Tillotson, engraved "L. C. Tillotson & Co., 26 Dey St., New York," featuring two vertically mounted coils. In very good to fine condition. The Phelps 'camelback' key—so named for the hump at the center—was the most widely used telegraph key during the Civil War. They were produced from about 1853 to 1865, before being abandoned for an improved design; the steel trunnion shaft, press-fit into the lever, would gradually become loose after prolonged use, rendering the key unusable so relatively few have survived.