Great Britain / U.S.A., Completion of the Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph 1866, Gold Medal of the American Chamber of Commerce, Liverpool, awarded to Sir Samuel Canning, Chief Engineer of the Atlantic Telegraph, in bronze, by J.S. and A.B. Wyon, with a heavy gold plating, arms of Great Britain and the United States of America, with each nations motto below, the engraver’s initials beneath the British motto, these superimposed on the ocean, with the SS Great Eastern above, the central design surrounded by an unbroken length of cable, around the peripheral legend *Atlantic* Telegraph* Cable* 1866, rev., field of stars, above two tied olive branches, at centre frame inscribed in serif capitals To/ Sir Samuel Canning below Liver bird in shield, with motto of city of Liverpool in riband around, the central design surround by and unbroken length of cable, around the peripheral legend *Presented by the American Chamber of Commerce. Liverpool;, 76mm, 195.65g (B.H.M. 2867), test mark on edge and minor obverse edge bruise, otherwise extremely fine and extremely rare The following is taken from the Illustrated London News, 30 March 1867: ‘The American Chamber of Commerce at Liverpool resolved some months ago that a gold medal should be made and presented by the chamber to Sir Samuel Canning, Chief Engineer; Mr Cyrus W. Field. Of New York, the original projector of the Atlantic Telegraph; Sir James Anderson, the Commander of the Great Eastern steamship; and Mr Willoughby Smith, the electrician, in commemoration of the successful laying of the Atlantic Telegraph cable.’Cyrus field donated two copies of the medal named to him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in 1892, one is in gold, the other, like the present specimen, in bronze with a heavy gold plating, the whereabouts of Sir James Anderson’s and Willoughby Smith’s medals are at present unknown, an uninscribed silver specimen is in the National Maritime Museum and at least one uninscribed bronze specimen is known to exist.Sir Samuel Canning (1823-1908) gained his first engineering experience as assistant to Messrs. Locke and Errington on the Great Western railway extensions between 1884 and 1849, later as resident engineer on the Liverpool, Ormskirk and Preston Railway. In 1852 Canning turned to Submarine telegraphy and in 1855-56, with Messrs. Glass and Eliot laid his first cable between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland. In 1857 he assisted Charles Bright in the construction of the first Atlantic cable and was on board H.M.S. Agamemnon during the submerging of the cable in 1857 and 1858, subsequently he laid cables in the Mediterranean and other seas for the same employers.When the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company was formed in 1865, Canning was appointed Chief Engineer. He had charge of the manufacture and laying of the Transatlantic telegraph cables of 1865 and 1866 for which the company were contractors. This involved the fitting out of Brunel’s steamship the Great Eastern. On 2 August 1865 the cable broke in 2,000 fathoms of water. After a second cable had been laid successfully by the Great Eastern (13-27 July 1866) Canning set to work to recover the broken cable using special grappling material which he devised for the purpose. After several failures the cable was finally recovered on 2 September 1866. For these services Canning was knighted the same year, the king of Portugal also conferred on him the Order of St James of the Sword.In 1869 he laid the French Atlantic cable between Brest and Duxbury, Massachusetts. After his retirement from the Telegraph Construction Company, Canning practised as a consulting engineer in matters concerning telegraphy and among other works superintended the Marseilles-Algiers and other cables for the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company. He later acted as advisor to the West Indian, Panamanian and other telegraph companies, he died in Kensington 24 September 1908.

Estimate: GBP 800 - 1200