From the Favorites Box: Samuel Morse, 1952 Topps Look 'N See #70

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.


Here's a guy who is quite an important figure in world history. (But not for his beard, impressive as it may be.)

The letters and codes that appear to his left and right provide a clue.

I first learned of Morse Code as a young tot. Over the summers back then my mom, sister, and I would often go visit our grandparents in Queens, NY, and stay overnight. Grandpa in particular was a tinkerer. He had a workshop in the basement. He made art from pieces of wood. He played the violin and piano. In his younger days he served in the US Army as a mechanic and bugler. Seemed to know everything about everything, that guy.

One evening when things were winding down in the kitchen, Gramps brought out a small device made of plastic and metal, with a small battery attached by wires. He called it a telegraph. It probably looked something like this one:

He set it down on the kitchen table. Behind it he propped up a piece of cardboard that had a sheet of paper glued to the front. Printed on that paper was the alphabet, with a generous space between each letter. And next to each letter, various arrangements of dots and lines.

Well, Gramps proceeded to explain the telegraph to me, and how pressing down on that knob caused two pieces of metal underneath to touch and complete an electrical circuit, which allowed the telegraph to generate a distinct beeping sound. Once you let go of the knob, the lever would spring back up, the pieces of metal would separate, and the beep would stop. It was a combination of those beeps, sent by cables or radio wave, that allowed you to communicate over long distances. My primary-school brain soaked in everything as best it could. 

Essentially, there were only two beeps you needed to learn, a short one and a long one. He went over the first few letters of the alphabet with me, demonstrating the combinations of long and short beeps that made up each letter, and then showed me how to string the letters together with codes like "S.O.S." (dot-dot-dot / line, line, line / dot-dot-dot)

I gave it a try. Seeing my enthusiasm, Gramps left me to it and soon went up to bed, along with the rest of the family. But there I remained, sitting in the kitchen, beeping the alphabet away, a small lamp on the table the only light on in the house.

At some point, someone must have come back downstairs and told me "okay, that's enough for one night". But I don't exactly remember who it was, or how long they allowed me to keep clicking away on that lever. 

Here's more information on the telegraph and Morse Code from the back of the card.

Note the secret message you're asked to find at the bottom.

Last year I shared the first card I picked up from this 1952 Topps Look 'N See set, featuring one of my all-time favorite authors, Jules Verne. I tried placing a piece of red cellophane on top of that one to decode the message, but it just wasn't coming out clearly enough, possibly from a fading or aging of the blue-ish ink used for the secret image. (If you look closely at the card back above, you can see something of an image behind the text.)

Eventually I was able to decode it by scanning the card, opening it in Photoshop, and placing a red-colored transparent layer on top, so I wanted to try again here.

The question we have to answer this time: 

What was the first message sent by wireless?  

(Get ready before you scroll down, it's rather bright)

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What hath God wrought?

On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse, who was at the US Capitol, and Alfred Vail, his colleague at the other end of the line at a railroad station in Baltimore, wanted to share a message that would capture the awe and amazement of the onlookers that day, and after that, the world.

It's difficult to make out details of the telegraph itself in the image, but you can see an illustrated Morse tapping away at a device. Regardless, I know I would have enjoyed decoding this card if I'd been a kid in 1952.

And for the great memories of Grandpa, one of my best friends in the world, 1952 Topps Look 'N See #70 has a place in my box of favorite cards.


Bonus Feature: MORSE CODE CHALLENGE

Take a minute and translate the following.

-. .. -.-. . / -... . .- .-. -.. / ... .- -- ..- . .-.. -.-.--