Skip to main content
Lot 65

A Charles Wheatstone "ABC" dial telegraph for the G.P.O.,
English, circa 1870,

19 May 2015, 13:00 BST
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £2,250 inc. premium

Own a similar item?

Submit your item online for a free auction estimate.

How to sell

Looking for a similar item?

Our Scientific Instruments specialists can help you find a similar item at an auction or via a private sale.

Find your local specialist

Ask about this lot

A Charles Wheatstone "ABC" dial telegraph for the G.P.O., English, circa 1870,

the mahogany cased instrment with brass fitting and terminals, horizontal alphabet and numerical dial with corresponding keys, angled display dial above, 13 1/2in (34cm) long

Footnotes

Charles Wheatstone is well known for a number of inventions including the telegraph which went on to revolutionise communications in the 19th century. The original idea was that of Sir William Fothergill Cooke, who asked Wheatstone for scientific advice after encountering a series of problems with his original designs. Together, Cooke and Wheatstone patented a five-needle telegraph in 1837 and installed the first working commercial electric telegraph for the Great Western Railway in 1838.

Additional information

Bid now on these items

A rare Q1 Lite desktop Micro Computer, circa 1980,

An Edmund Culpeper brass universal equinoctial dial, English, early 18th century,

A rare Marcus Purman gilt and silvered brass tablet sundial/compendium, German, dated 1593,

A Nicholas Lane 2 3/4-inch pocket globe, English, published 1818,

A pair of positive-negative brittle starfish and trilobite fossil plates (2)