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Auction: SW1014 - Bonds & Share Certificates of the World
Lot: 80

Società Anonima del Telegrafo Pantografico Caselli. Azione al portatore F 100, Toscana, 30 Gennajo 1857. #91. While teaching physics at the University of Florence, Giovanni Caselli (1815-1891) developed a system of sending and receiving images over long distances, the first prototype of a fax machine. In 1856, Caselli went to Paris. Here he was to be given vital help by the famous inventor Paul Gustave Froment; and in 1862, Caselli’s “pantograph” was met with unequivocal enthusiasm from the Parisian scientific public. Enthusiasm lay even with the Emperor Napoleon III himself, who was passionately interested in mechanics and modern inventions. In November of the same year, a telegraphic line was also allocated to Caselli’s invention between Paris and Amiens, later from Paris to Marseille and between London and Liverpool. In 1865, it started regular communication between Paris and Lyon and transmitted nearly 5000 faxes in the first year. However, in regular use, Caselli's system seems to show a number of flaws and did not realise the financial hopes of its promoters. Slowly it fell into disuse. The share certificate has the same looks as a Pantograph’s print. The Vignette shows Caselli’s dream, the “Unione Mondiale”- the Pantograph linking Europe with the Americas. It bears Caselli’s original signature as Direttore. VF.

Sold for
SFr460