Sagendorph's Battery

Sagendorph's Battery
Ill. from a Jan. 1880 advert.
a.k.a.	Sagendorph's Miniature Medical Galvanic Battery
Medical Claims	Health and well-being restored via galvanic electricity
Creator(s)	George Sagendorph
Vendors	G.A. Sagendorph & Co.

Sagendorph's Battery (or Sagendorph's Miniature Medical Galvanic Battery) is an electro-therapeutic medical medallion, advertised as a generator of healing electric current in the wearer, produced by the reaction of the varying metals constituting the battery with the wearer's skin (as a galvanic response). The battery was advertised as having been invented by George Sagendorph, for whom it is named, and sold through direct and newpaper marketing by G.A. Sagendorph & Co.

An identical medallion was marketed (even duplicating the advertising copy) under the name Boyd's Battery by Boyd's Galvanic Battery Co., though there is dispute as to which was the original design: in testimony before the New York Supreme Court, Richard H. Elias reported that Ellis H. Elias had been in business with George Sagendorph, and continued selling the Sagendorph Battery under J.C. Boyd's name; and, Boyd, in the same trial, testified that he was unaware who had invented the medallion, and that the Galvanic battery business had been purchased and operated by Ellis H. Elias on his behalf, all contrary to claims made in later advertising that Sagendorph had stolen the medallion and design from Boyd.

Advertising

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  Solicitation for Sagendorph's Battery - 1880.