Julian LS-1.
67mm. Silver. 116.16g. By Salathiel Ellis, after Emmanuel Leutze.
Obverse with a superb depiction of the American Eagle, border legend around, reverse showing man rescuing drowning figure from the sea, with sinking ship and lighthouse in the background. Engraved on ribbon banner above 'The President of the United States to William Griffiths Esq - for his kindness to Capt Anderson of Am Ship Pamelia Flood, 1863'.
Edge knock at 8 o'clock on reverse and some scattered small marks, as one would expect from a presentation medal that was likely regularly handled and exhibited, otherwise About Extremely Fine and with original prooflike surfaces. A magnificent early American medal, the awarding of which would have almost certainly been discussed by President Abraham Lincoln himself. As the earliest of the State Department lifesaving medals, it is reported that 19 were struck from these dies in gold, 10 in silver, and 34 in bronze, making the silver the lowest mintage of all. Before this medal it was thought that 3 silver examples were known, making this the 4th.
The Pamelia Flood (also recorded as the Permelia Flood) was an American barque (or heavy schooner) built in the United States in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1858. It was sailing en-route from New Orleans, USA to Liverpool, England, when it was wrecked during severe storms on the night of January 19th-20th, 1863. The vessel foundered roughly 12 nautical miles (22 km) west-north-west of Holyhead, Anglesey, off the Welsh coast in the Irish Sea. The crew of 11 hands and 1 pilot were all lost, with the sole survivor being the Swedish-born American named John R. Anderson. Though close to exhaustion, he managed to cling to pieces of the wreckage long enough to be washed ashore. A crowd standing ashore, including William Griffiths, ran into the surf to try and retrieve Anderson, with Griffiths finally succeeding in pulling him to safety. It is said that Anderson was then taken to a local home and aided with his recovery for some weeks.
The Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald, ran a piece in the July 25th, 1863 issue, in which the reporter comments on the ‘beautiful’ silver medal and also reprinted the letter that accompanied the medal from the Foreign Office, dated July 17th. That means that the ship was wrecked on the night of January 19th-20th, and within 6 months, it had been decided to award a medal, the medal was struck and engraved, transported to England, and presented and received. A rather impressive feat of the time and a timeline that highlights the importance of such diplomatic expressions, even during the middle of the American Civil War.
What is most interesting about this medal, is the fact that a similar example was sold on August 25th, 2025 by Stacks Bowers (lot 1106), that was awarded to exactly the same recipient for exactly the same event! That medal realised $20,400 and was in brilliant, virtually as struck condition, and was accompanied by the original embossed leather case. However, that medal had a few peculiarities that make it very likely that it was actually the medal offered here that was the one originally presented to William Griffiths.
1. The style of lettering - The inscription within the banner of the SB (Stacks Bowers) medal is done in a somewhat block style lettering and it looks as though there is an underlying copy of the final line of engraving, just ahead of the actual inscription, almost as if the engraver needed to pre-engrave it, so they had something to trace. Of all of the silver and gold examples of this medal encountered, the engraving is in an italicised script style, and seemingly of a more skilled hand, like the medal offered here.
2. The message itself - The SB medal is engraved 'For Rescue of Crew of Am Ship Pamelia Flood, 1863'. This seems a strange message to engrave due to the fact that all hands were lost apart from Captain Anderson, meaning that no crew were rescued beyond him. Furthermore, the newspaper reports of the time don't seem to tell the story that Griffiths 'saved' Captain Anderson (not to take anything away from him and his actions) in the sense of a maritime rescue, more that he pulled him from the surf and helped him to recuperate. In fact, the Foreign Office letter states the medal was awarded ‘in acknowledgement of your services on occasion of the wreck of the ship Pamelia Flood, in January last, as well as of the kindness and hospitality shown by you to Captain Anderson, the only survivor, during his recovery from the effects of his exposure.’ Griffiths’ letter of reply reads ‘Its receipt was quite unexpected, for the slight service I had the opportunity of rendering to Captain Anderson was not more than would have been given by any Briton under similar circumstances.’ The lettering on the outside of your case that accompanies that SB medal reads 'For his Kindness to the Captain and Crew of the American Ship, Pamelia Flood'. All of this suggests that ‘For Rescue of Crew’ would be overstating things a bit. The engraved banner on the medal offered here medal reads 'for his kindness to Capt Anderson of Am Ship Pamelia Flood', matching the case message almost exactly and seems much more consistent with the actual events.
3. The condition – The SB medal was in magnificent condition, almost as if it has never been taken out of the box. It tends to be the case that presentation medals such as these are often exhibited, handled and shown by their recipients, as one can only imagine they would be an incredible conversation piece. If one were to adopt the mindset of a normal man who had been presented with a magnificent silver medal from the president of The United States, it seems likely that one would want to hold it, display it, possibly carry it around as a conversation piece, likely for years to come, rather than box it up and store it away, out of sight.
In reality, it is likely that we will never know for certain why two medals were struck for the same recipient, for the same action. However, our personal theory is the following: The time it took for news to travel… As a rough series of events, one can imagine that the wreck happened, news was transmitted back to the U.S as soon as possible, but the full picture of events wasn't clear. With telegrams, diplomatic dispatches (that would probably be required to proceed with such a medal) etc, it is possible that maybe the powers that be decided a medal needed to be struck so the SB medal was struck and engraved first, somewhat hurriedly, but before they had full sight of the events. They knew there was a wreck, they knew who the captain was and so the engraved message seems like a pretty 'standard' response. Then, sometime after, when it became clear that only Captain Anderson survived, and it was less of a rescue and more of an act of kindness, that original message seemed somewhat out of touch and would give the impression of the president of the United States being uninformed. Then, a second medal was produced, with a more accurate description of events and this was the medal given to Griffiths, with the 1st medal remaining somewhere nice and safe for the next 150 or so years, in pristine condition. This is obviously only a theory and there may be other plausible theories, such as this medal being lost at some point and another replacement being ordered. If this was the case and the order was accepted, the mint may have sent the replacement medal (the SB medal), along with a replacement case, that was then later engraved by a lesser hand, hence the cruder inscription on the SB medal.
Either way, this medal represents a rare opportunity to own a true piece of early American history.