EARLY CALIFORNIA TELEPHONE DOCUMENTS. Autograph letter signed ('Jno. I. Sabin'), to J.B. Shannon...

EARLY CALIFORNIA TELEPHONE DOCUMENTS. Autograph letter signed ('Jno. I. Sabin'), to J.B. Shannon, Collector of the Port [of] San Francisco, 'We respectfully submit the following proposition to establish telephone communication between the Barge office India Dock and the Merchants Exchange', giving specifications and costs, 1 p, 272 x 198 mm, San Francisco, May 13, 1878, light dampstain. WITH: Autograph receipt signed ('Sam Hubbard agt') issued by the National Bell Telephone Company for one year's rental of telephone equipment for $110, San Francisco, Aug. 14, 1879. In 1877 Western Union declined Alexander Graham Bell and his financial backers' offer to sell the patent rights to the telephone for $100,000, believing the telephone had no commercial value. Once the Bell Telephone Company started entering the New York, Chicago and Boston markets, Western Union changed its mind. To counteract Bell, Western Union bought Elisha Gray's and Thomas Edison's telephone patents, started the American Speaking Telephone Company, and 'traded' these to the very successful Gold and Stock Telegraph Company for fifty percent interest in order to use its extensive network of exchanges and offices to compete with Bell. The present letter by Jonathan Sabin, the agent in San Francisco, is an excellent example of Western Union's aggressive approach in the telephone market. Samuel Hubbard was sent to California by his brother Gardiner (Bell's father-in law, and principal financial backer), to promote the Bell Telephone Company. San Francisco was the third city in the world to have a telephone exchange, and it was established by the American Speaking Telephone Co. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing