Indian Peace Medals
1845 James K. Polk Indian Peace Medal. Silver. First Size. Julian IP-24, Prucha-46. Choice Very Fine.
75.6 mm. 2515.5 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. This medal first appeared in our March 2017 sale, where it was described, in part: "Pleasing medium silver gray on the obverse with faint tints of olive brown mottled through the fields. Deep blue-gray patina thinly outlines the central motif, with similar accents through the legend. The reverse is slightly lighter gray with traces of pale blue and violet visible when turned in the light. The surfaces exhibit scattered fine nicks and abrasions including a couple of small rim nicks and a light scratch left of the bust. A gentle edge bump may also be seen near 3:00, relative to the obverse. None of these marks is unusual for such a medal, in fact, they lend a bit of desirability as they are evidence that this piece was actually awarded and worn by the recipient, as intended. Traces of some light debris are noted in the recesses and on the reverse may be found the initials "TEX," upside down, on the uncuffed wrist. This might well be a clue as to the original recipient, but this is unlikely to ever be determined with certainty. As with the John Tyler medals, 260 Polk medals were struck for distribution in all three sizes, with 60 large medals and 100 each of the smaller two sizes produced. Unfortunately for collectors today, another similarity between the Polk and Tyler medals is that many remained undistributed and were returned to the Mint to be melted. In the case of the Tyler medals there is only a total weight known for those returned, but for the Polk medals a breakdown of the various sizes was recorded. A remarkable 49 of the 60 large-size medals were returned for melting in December 1849, leaving just 11 issued specimens. This is one of the smallest total issues of the entire series. The circumstances for the second-size and third-size medals is not much different, making the Polk one of the toughest medals to obtain in any size. Naturally, the largest size is the most prized. Carl Carlson reported six auction appearances for a large-size Polk in silver, but Michael Hodder commented in the 2006 Ford sale that he knew of no recent appearances. Indeed, this medal was missing from the Garrett, Dreyfuss, Schenkel, LaRiviere, and Steinberg Collections. It was also missing from our 2013 sale of the Wharton Collection. We strongly suspect there is an error in Carlson's reported number. This is the most recent example of this medal to come to light. It entered the care of our prior consignor's family around 1915. His father had business associations with Ft. Sill, near Lawton, Oklahoma around that time, and was recognized as such by General Pershing, by way of a personal letter. It is unknown how the medal was acquired, but the time and place make for an interesting part of the story of this recently discovered example. We are aware of seven silver specimens, as follows: 1. Andrew Zabriskie, 1909:180; F.C.C. Boyd; Ford XVI:139; Anthony Terranova; Joseph Lasser; Colonial Williamsburg 2. The present specimen 3. Said to be from a museum in Montana. Now in a private collection 4. Said to be from the Millard Fillmore Family; Alan Weinberg; Heritage, August 2019, lot 3817 5. American Numismatic Society 6. American Numismatic Society (Restrike) 7. Smithsonian Institution As shown above, only six of those known to us are originals. Example #6 is from the post-1846 reverse and clearly not original. Of the six remaining, only three are believed to be in private hands. The most recent example to sell was the Alan Weinberg specimen in Heritage's sale of August 2019, which was said to have come from the Millard Fillmore family and was described as the finest known, based on the NGC grade. In that offering, the cataloger listed it as one of three known to him, and the medal realized $28,800. Having been in the President's family, the status of that medal as one actually presented to a Native American can be reasonably questioned. The same is true of the superb Zabriskie-Boyd-Ford specimen which sold for $41,400 in our October 2006 sale. This is really not a question for this medal which holds the price record for one of these at $47,000. Perhaps this speaks to the value of an awarded medal and the history such a presentation represents.
Ex A Midwestern Family, circa 1915; Stack's Bowers Galleries, March 2017, lot 42 (its first public offering).
Estimate: $30000