Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. of America - 1913 dated Stock Certificate

Stock with vignette of female figure with a large globe at each side of transmission antennas printed by American Bank Note Company, New York. Please specify color.

The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, commonly known as American Marconi, was established in 1899 as a subsidiary of the British Marconi Company. It held the exclusive rights to Guglielmo Marconi's radio (or "wireless telegraphy") patents in the U.S. and Cuba. Initially, American Marconi focused on operating high-powered land and transatlantic shipboard stations. In 1912, it acquired the assets of the bankrupt United Wireless Telegraph Company, making it the leading radio communications provider in the United States.

During World War I, the U.S. government took control of the radio industry, and after the war, it was reluctant to return American Marconi's stations to British ownership due to national security concerns. Led by the U.S. Navy, the government pressured the Marconi companies to transfer ownership of American Marconi to a U.S. entity. In 1919, General Electric purchased American Marconi's assets, which served as the foundation for the creation of its new subsidiary, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

The British parent company, originally founded as the Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company, Limited, in London on July 20, 1897, was established to promote Marconi's radio inventions. Renamed Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Limited (or "British Marconi") in March 1900, it sought to expand its global reach by creating subsidiaries with regional rights to the Marconi patents. American Marconi, incorporated in New Jersey on November 8, 1899, was the first of these subsidiaries, holding the exclusive right to utilize the Marconi patents in the United States, as well as in the Hawaiian Islands, Philippine Islands, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands.