A BB&B cased Mollus and GAR pair to Chief Engineer Edwin Wells. Wells was born in St. Mary’s, PA in 1837. He joined the Navy shortly after the start of the Civil War and served on the USS Rhode Island in 1861. For the remainder of the war he was on the steam sloop USS San Jacinto, which was part of the East Gulf Blockading Squadron. He had risen to the Chief Engineer when he died on the USS Omaha at Shanghai, China in 1889. At some point his body was returned to the US and he’s now buried in Pottstown, PA.
BB&B medal cases are quite rare and this one has done an excellent job of protecting its contents for over 130 years. The case is sound and has only minor scuff marks. Both medals are in excellent condition, with original ribbons. The Mollus has the original early style brooch. Sold with a large quantity of photocopies of Wells’ service records from the National Archives in Washington and a copy of his Mollus application.