Indian Peace Medals
1841 John Tyler Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-22, Prucha-45. Extremely Fine.
62.3 mm. 1554.4 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical, with all piercings consistently positioned on the medals observed by us, both with respect to the obverse and reverse designs. Mostly deep gray silver with lighter gray high points that serve to accentuate the design features a bit. Soft blue iridescence in the fields on both sides. Another very handsome medal, this combining the desirable attributes of quality and clear evidence of having been issued and worn. Numerous small nicks are seen, as are small rim bumps, the largest being over THE on the obverse and an ideal identifier of this specimen. Initials are lightly and somewhat crudely cut into the right obverse field and appear to be “HSD” or “HSB.” While elsewhere in numismatics “graffiti” of this nature is seen as a negative, on Peace medals it may allude to a past owner and perhaps the original recipient. As such, it is the writer’s most favored type of “impairment” to discover on one of these medals. Even when it can’t possibly lead to the identity of a specific human hand, it speaks to a degree of pride in ownership. These were never intended to be protected in cabinets of collectors and as such the signs that they were valued during their periods of use are different what might be used by numismatists. The medals for John Tyler mark a change in the production methods for the Peace medal dies. Instead of hiring die-sinkers to engrave the dies directly, the Mint elected to use its new portrait lathe to cut the dies from a prepared model. This saved both time and expense. Between December 1842 and January 1843, the entire order of John Tyler medals in silver was delivered. This is reported to have been 60 in large-size and 100 each in the medium and small-size medals. It remains unknown how many of the medals were actually distributed, but, according to Prucha, more than 40% of the original mintage, by weight, was returned to the Mint and melted for use in making the James Polk medals. From the writer’s survey of specimens, it seems that the medals may have been distributed in roughly equal numbers, as those located today are roughly the same in number for each size. Of this size, seven distinct medals have been accounted for, with three in the collections of the ANS, the Gilcrease Museum and the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis.
Ex F.C.C. Boyd Estate; John J. Ford, Jr.; Stack’s sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVIII, May 2007, lot 111; Stack’s, January 2008, lot 7142.
Estimate: $15000