A rare Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Marine Silver Medallion

A rare Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society Marine Silver Medallion.
Measures 56mm in diameter.
Condition as pictured, patina and edge bruising.
 
Silver Marine Medal
The first version of the medal, “Type 1”, has undergone the most changes since its introduction. It began life in the form of a Medallion of 56mm in diameter. Three styles of the medal are known to exist:- (i) what the Society calls its 1st class medal which is frosted and glazed, (ii) the 2nd class medal which is polished and glazed, and (iii) the 3rd class medal which is polished and unglazed. To the best of our knowledge they were all made between 1840 and 1867. Details of the actual rescue used to be engraved on the rim that holds the glass in place on the Glazed Medallions, but not on the Medallion itself. In contrast the unglazed version has the details engraved on the rim of the Medallion.
The obverse of the medal has the figure of a sailor kneeling on a fragment of a wreck rescuing a child and its mother from drowning. In the background the crew of a boat can also be seen rescuing someone else from the sea, and in the distance there is a sailing ship. The inscription around the top third of the medal reads “LORD SAVE US: WE PERISH” and at the base is written “W. WYON, R.A.”
The reverse side has a wreath of oak leaves made from two branches with a hen cormorant in the centre with wings extended and bearing an olive branch in its beak. The bird was copied from the Liverpool Borough arms and is the “Liver Bird” which sits on top of the Royal Liver Building at Liverpool’s Pier Head. Between the design and the rim and fully round the circumference of the medal are the words “LIVERPOOL SHIPWRECK AND HUMANE SOCIETY 1839”.
 
https://liverpoolshipwreckandhumanesoc.org.uk/2022/06/08/the-marine-medal/
 
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