Skip to main content

This auction has ended. View lot details

You may also be interested in

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

Lot 65

CIVIL WAR ERA TELEGRAPH KEY.

21 September 2015, 13:00 EDT
New York

US$1,000 - US$1,500

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our History of Science & Technology specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

CIVIL WAR ERA TELEGRAPH KEY.

Leg-style telegraph key in brass c. 1860, 4" tall with 5½" lever, signed "Caton, Ottawa, Il" on lever, base stamped "494." Lever repaired at contact point.

Commonly referred to as a "leg-key" this Civil War era telegraph key was designed to sit on the telegraph operator's table with the long legs extending through the table, where electrical connections to the legs could be hidden.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A Presentation Copy of Kennedy's First Book to Spencer Tracy. Kennedy, John F. 1917-1963. Why England Slept. New York: Wilfred Funk, Inc., 1940.

Signed to Spencer Tracy 1952 Hemingway, Ernest. 1899-1961. The Old Man and the Sea, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1952.

CORNELIUS, MATTHEWS, editor. 1817-1889. The Enchanted Moccasins and Other Legends of the American Indians.

CALEPINO, AMBROGIO. 1435-1511. [Dictionarium.] Calepinus Ad librum. Mos est putidas.... Venice: Peter Liechtenstein, January 3, 1509.

HEARN, LAFCADIO. 1850-1904. [Japanese Fairy Tales.] Philadelphia: Macrae-Smith, [But Tokyo: T. Hasegawa,] [c.1931].

HEMINGWAY, ERNEST. 1899-1961. PUTNAM, SAMUEL, translator. Kiki's Memoirs. Paris: Sign of the Black Manikin, 1930.