{"product_id":"southern-bell-telephone-and-telegraph-company-bond-from-1939","title":"Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company Bond from 1939","description":"\u003cp\u003eThis is an original bond from Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, dated 1939, printed in red. The vignette depicts two allegorical figures flanking a circular medallion containing a period telephone instrument: a draped female figure on the left, globe at her feet, and a muscular male figure on the right holding a caduceus, with smaller attendant figures visible in the background. Printed by the American Bank Note Company.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCancellation is present in the form of punch holes through the lower center of the face, forming a void pattern through the signature and seal area, confirming the bond was redeemed. Offered as a collectible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1939, Atlanta was the operational nerve center of Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company, a Bell System subsidiary serving nine southeastern states: Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia. The company traced its lineage directly to \u003cstrong\u003eAlexander Graham Bell\u003c\/strong\u003e's original telephony patents and the network \u003cstrong\u003eTheodore Vail\u003c\/strong\u003e assembled under American Telephone and Telegraph in the early twentieth century. Vail's strategy of vertical integration and universal service shaped every Bell subsidiary, and Southern Bell was no exception, expanding aggressively through the rural South at a time when telephone penetration there lagged far behind the northeast. The 1939 debenture offering was part of Southern Bell's ongoing capital program to extend and modernize its network during the uncertain final years of the Depression, when the company was simultaneously managing tight margins and rising demand driven by New Deal infrastructure activity across the region. Southern Bell continued as a Bell System subsidiary until the federally mandated AT\u0026amp;T breakup in 1984, when it became a founding component of BellSouth Corporation. BellSouth itself was later acquired by AT\u0026amp;T Inc. in 2006, reuniting the southeastern network with the parent brand more than two decades after divestiture.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAmerican Bank Note Company bonds from the late Depression era attract collectors drawn to the combination of serious engraving craftsmanship and industrial American history. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis piece sits at an interesting intersection: a major telecommunications bond issued just as the Bell System was cementing its monopoly position, printed by the most prestigious security engraver in the country.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ticker History","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52808945107231,"sku":"UTIL-SBTT-BI-RED-1939-001","price":24.96,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0836\/8757\/1743\/files\/southern-bell-telephone-and-telegraph-company-bond-1939-front-1.jpg?v=1787622162","url":"https:\/\/shop.tickerhistory.com\/zh\/products\/southern-bell-telephone-and-telegraph-company-bond-from-1939","provider":"Ticker History","version":"1.0","type":"link"}