103347 | UNITED STATES. All America Cables bronze Medal.

103347  |  UNITED STATES. All America Cables bronze Medal. Issued 1928 for the 50th anniversary of the incorporation of the Mexican Cable Company (82mm, 208.64 g, 12h). By Julio Kilenyi for Whitehead & Hoag in Newark, New Jersey.

 

ALL AMERICA CABLES, nude winged female, personifying Communication, in flight left over the ocean, laying cable with right hand and holding thunderbolt in left // FROM THE FIRST SIGNAL FIRES TO ALL AMERICA CABLES, in foreground to right, four Native Americans on promontory signaling via smoke to others at a distance across the bay; European ship advancing left upon the water; "COMMEMORATING / FIFTY YEARS / OF SERVICE / TO THE AMERICAS / 1878 MAY 6 1928" in incuse in five lines at base of promontory. Edge: WHITEHEAD–HOAG. A minor stain is noted as well, with the remainder of the edge being fairly uniform in color.

 

Marqusee –. Mintage: 1,500 (reported). Choice About Uncirculated. Tan-brown surfaces, with some slight mottling throughout, along with a few scattered marks. Far superior quality than is generally encountered for the type, which almost invariably displays deep staining and unappealing surfaces overall. As such, rather scarce.

 

The International Ocean Telegraph Company owned by James A. Scrymser laid the first line from Florida to Cuba in 1867, a distance of some 235 miles. A little over a decade later in 1878, he incorporated the Mexican Cable Company followed shortly thereafter by the Central and South American Cable Company. Routes were expanded and, by 1928, connectivity of the United States to Central and South America, as far south as Santiago and Buenos Aires, was achieved. By this year, the companies had merged under a single banner as All America Cables, with it touting "...a half century of cable service to the Three Americas." Intriguingly, an advertising poster for the firm from just after the time at which this medal was issued offers similar iconography, with Native Americans observing an approaching European ship and signaling to others across the bay.

 

Upload: 20 January 2026.