American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Ornately engraved sterling silver presentation box with hinged lid, 11 1/8 in. (l) x 4 1/2 in. (h) x 4 1/2 in. (w), English, ca 1866. Bottom with hallmark of Jonas and George Bowen, active in Birmingham, England ca 1860s-1870s, registered September 1859. Weight 26.97 tray ounces. (Tarnish and wear with lid closing somewhat irregularly, but overall good condition.)

Inscription on lid reads: "Presented by the Magistrates and Town Council of the Burgh of Dumfries [Scotland] alongst with the Freedom of the Burgh to Captain Sir James Anderson of the Great Eastern in recognition of his eminent services in the laying of the Atlantic Cable of 1866. December 14th." The presentation of this box is documented in The History of the Burgh of Dumfries by William M'Dowall and first published in 1867. M'Dowall describes the reception given to Anderson by "the Dumfriesians" as they celebrated his return, and how the captain was on December 14th 1866 "made a freeman and burgess in presence of a brilliant company assembled in the Town Hall....presenting the burgess ticket enclosed in a massive silver box...."

Captain James Anderson commanded the SS Great Eastern, the ship which in 1866 laid the first transatlantic telegraph cable under the Atlantic Ocean. The feat was at the time a massive technological undertaking and one of enormous international public interest. The fourth son of a bookseller, Anderson followed his passion for the water working on sailboats and then moving to steamships earning a reputation as a competent and skilled commander. In the early 1860s he was recruited to serve as captain of the Great Eastern, the largest ship ever built at the time of her 1858 launch.

[With:]  Lithograph "The great Eastern named: 'The Leviathan.'" Berlin, F. Sala & Co. Unter d Linden 57 [n.d. ca 1860]. 15 x 12 1/4 in. (sight), 16 3/4 in. x 13 3/4 in. (framed) (heavy toning, dampstains, unexamined outside frame). The Great Eastern was originally to be named the Leviathan when work commenced on it in 1854.