Beautifully engraved uncancelled certificate from the United Wireless Telegraph Company issued in 1908. This historic document has an ornate border around it with a vignette of the company's name in fancy scrip. This item has the signatures of the Company's President ( Christopher C. Wilson ) and Asst. Treasurer ( L. C. Wallace ) and is over 102 years old.
Certificate Vignette United Wireless Telegraph Company was a corrupt firm which had dominated the U.S. radio industry. Christopher C. Wilson Wilson was the president of the United Wireless Telegraph Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Maine. On August 3, 1910, a grand jury filed two indictments against him and certain officers, directors, and stockholders of the corporation, the one charging fraudulent use of the mails and the other a conspiracy for such use. In April, 1912, a merger took place between the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and the United Wireless Telegraph Company. The merger was a result of an infringement of patent rights lawsuit and the United Wireless Telegraph Company entered no defense and consented to the granting of a decree in favor of the Marconi Company. As a result of the merger all the stations and contracts of the United Wireless Telegraph Company were taken over by the Marconi Company. This involved about 500 ship and 70 land stations in the United States. Although Marconi helped restore honest business practices to the U.S. radio industry, it brought about its own set of problems. Marconi now dominated the U.S. radio industry, with little competition. And as a subsidiary of a British firm, a key communications technology was now largely under foreign control, which would eventually cause national security concerns.