Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry is an exceptionally niche subset of antique jewelry – and a particularly fascinating one!

I’m betting most of you haven’t seen one of these before…but don’t worry, I’m going to tell you allllllll about them.

Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry: a slice of history.

What even is transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry? To adequately answer this question, we need to talk about the history of the world’s first transatlantic cable.

For most of human existence, the only way to communicate across distance was to have a message delivered by hand. That’s why it was so revolutionary when the telegraph was invented in the early 1800’s: suddenly you could send messages all over the country!

But even this miraculous technology was limited by where you could lay a wire. No telegraphs could be sent across the vast Atlantic ocean.

In 1853, American Cyrus West Field began raising money for an ambitious project: to lay the world’s first transatlantic cable between New York City and London, England. The project faced many challenges, from finding ships and engineers for the project to figuring out how to build a cable durable enough to survive being laid across the ocean floor (see this excellent video for more details).

The first two attempts at a transatlantic cable failed, but on August 16, 1858, Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan used the completed cable to successfully exchange pleasantries from across the Atlantic ocean.

People were so excited by this groundbreaking feat of technological accomplishment that they wanted to celebrate in a time honored way: by buying souvenirs!

Tiffany & Co. advertised in the New York Times on August 21, 1858 that they purchased the entire stock of spare cable from the USS Niagara, a ship that helped lay the cable, “in order to place it within reach of all classes, and that every family in the United States may posses a specimen of this wonderful mechanical curiosity.”

Tiffany & Co. sold thousands of brass-bound cable samples as souvenir objects, but they also made silver dishes, walking canes with handles made from spare cable, scrimshaw tributes, snuff boxes with cable slices set into the lid – as well as wholesaling the cable to other manufacturers who then made their own products. You can see examples here, on this excellent website dedicated to the subject.

But of course, our focus is on transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry! Distinctive and extraordinarily rare, I have only ever seen a few examples still intact, and only ever online…at least until recently, when I had the good fortune to acquire a piece for my own collection (!!!!).

Let’s look at a few examples, including my own.

Here’s a piece of transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry with a provenance as impressive as its lovely details: this pendant was reportedly a Gift from Queen Victoria to Isaac Toucey, Secretary of the Navy under President James Buchanan. Toucey was the person who actually received the first transatlantic telegraph sent by Queen Victoria in 1858.

As if that weren’t cool enough, the pendant is thicker than most and beautifully detailed, with an anchor shaped bale and a detailed hand-engraving of the U.S.S. Niagara (one of the ships that laid the cable) on the reverse side.

The best thing about this jaw-dropping treasure? It’s the only piece of transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry I can find that’s currently available for sale!! Find it at Velvet Box Society.

Another cool example that I haven’t seen anywhere else is this transatlantic cable souvenir watch key pendant. Like all of these pieces, it dates to the Victorian era.

I love the idea of adorning a watch key – a functional piece of jewelry used to maintain timekeeping technology – with a slice of the first transatlantic cable.

Thanks to Mouse’s House Antiques for letting me feature this treasure from their sold archive!

Here’s a photo that we’re very lucky to have. This transatlantic cable souvenir bracelet (!!!) is the only one of its kind I’ve ever seen or even heard of. A bracelet!! Can you even?

This beauty belongs to Mr. Bill Burns, the knowledgeable gentleman behind Atlantic-Cable.com, a source I consulted several times while writing this article. My quest for information led me to email Bill, and he very kindly offered to let me share the photos of this treasure from his own collection with you.

This is a very unusual example of Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry, one featuring two slices of the cable set on opposing sides of a gold locket.

Why two slices? The exterior of the locket is inscribed with two dates, and they answer our question in the coolest way: the first compartment of the locket holds a slice of cable from the first failed attempt at laying the cable, while the second compartment holds a slice of cable from the successful completion of the project.

Thanks to Erica Weiner for letting me feature this treasure from their sold archive!

Bequest of Henry Francis du Pont. Courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

Here’s another very high end example! This extraordinary transatlantic cable souvenir watch fob is currently in the collection of the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

This one bears a striking resemblance to the pendant for sale by Velvet Box Society up top, doesn’t it? It’s similar in heft and design, and shares the twisted rope border and the anchor bale, although this piece’s bale has the additional embellishment of two shields that appear to be a tribute to the US and British flags.

The Winterthur Museum credits Tiffany & Co. as the probable maker of this unsigned piece, which is very cool. According to the museum’s website:

This small charm is a souvenir made to commemorate the first trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, laid in 1858. During the autumn of that year, New York and London merchants and jewelers took advantage of public fascination with the cable. They created and sold objects such as charms, candlesticks, cane handles and paperweights incorporating sections of the surplus British-made cable.

Unmarked by its manufacturer or retailer, this charm is constructed with a gold case surrounding a cross-section slice of the florette-shape center made by seven copper wires of the cable housed within its natural insulator of gutta-purcha all bound within seven-ply twists of iron wire. […] Such souvenir “charms” were advertised by New York jewelry and silver merchant Tiffany & Company for American patrons.”

This piece was a bequest of Henry Francis du Pont. Courtesy Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library.

This silver example is a Maltese cross brooch or medal, made in silver. Its provenance and original purpose are unknown, but the front is inscribed “Atlantic Telegraph Agamemnon Valorous” and the back reads “Fairfield August 1858.”

This example comes to us from Bill Burns of The Atlantic Cable.

And finally, here is my very own piece Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry!! I snapped this beauty up the second I saw it appear in AntiqueGemsNJewels’ Etsy shop.

My pendant is simpler than some of the exceptionally high end ones we’ve looked at today – this simpler design in silver is the type of souvenir that most people looking to commemorate this occasion would have chosen.

I especially enjoy the chased side details on mine, which look to me like stylized acanthus leaves. I haven’t found the perfect chain to wear it on yet, but I’m having fun looking.

Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry from The Atlantic Cable

What do you think of this fascinating jewelry category, my darlings? Are you as enamored of it as I am? Do any of you also own one of these rare treasures from the past?

If you’ve enjoyed this post and want to enjoy thinking more about the extreme coolness of technological pioneers in undersea cable, I highly recommend The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan, a delightful historical romance novel that tells the (fictional) love story of two people working on this endeavor.

This post contains affiliate links.

Transatlantic cable souvenir jewelry from The Atlantic Cable

Sources:

Bloomberg QuickTake. “The Undersea Cable That Linked the World.” YouTube, 16 Apr. 2019, www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV0Wc9Y33so.

Burns, Bill . “History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy – Souvenirs.” Atlantic-Cable.com, 2022, atlantic-cable.com/Souvenirs/index.htm#gsc.tab=0. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

Klara, Robert. To Make Tiffany & Co. a Household Name, the Luxury Brand’s Founder Cashed in on the Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Craze | Smithsonian, Smithsonian Magazine , 15 Feb. 2024, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/to-make-tiffany-co-a-household-name-the-luxury-brands-founder-cashed-in-on-the-trans-atlantic-telegraph-craze-180983782/.

“Jewelry – Watch Fob (Charm) – Search the Collection – Winterthur Museum.” Search the Winterthur Museum Collection, Winterthur Museum, museumcollection.winterthur.org/single-record.php?resultsperpage=40&view=catalog&srchtype=advanced&hasImage=&ObjObjectName=&CreOrigin=&Earliest=&Latest=&CreCreatorLocal_tab=&materialsearch=&ObjObjectID=&ObjCategory=&DesMaterial_tab=&DesTechnique_tab=&AccCreditLineLocal=&CreMarkSignature=&recid=1959.0565&srchfld=ObjCategory&srchtxt=&id=d56d&rownum=161&version=100&src=results-imagelink. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

“Rare Victorian Transatlantic Cable Souvenir Pendant 14K Gold 1800s.” Mouse’s House Antiques, mouseshouseantiques.com/products/rare-victorian-transatlantic-cable-01076. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

“Rare Antique Transatlantic Cable Pendant in Yellow Gold.” VELVET BOX SOCIETY, www.velvetboxsociety.com/store/p1444/rareantiquetransatlanticcablependantinyellowgold.html. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

“Victorian Transatlantic Telegraph Souvenir Locket.” Erica Weiner, www.ericaweiner.com/products/victorian-transatlantic-telegraph-souvenir-locket. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.

Steamship Historical Society. “From Telegraph to Text: How Undersea Cables Connect Us All – Steamship Historical Society.” Steamship Historical Society, 20 Jan. 2022, shiphistory.org/2022/01/20/from-telegraph-to-text/. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025.

Tiffany’s Transatlantic Cable Souvenir , National Museum of American History, americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_1255864. Accessed 17 Feb. 2025.