Indian Peace Medals
1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Silver. First Size. Julian IP-27. Prucha-47. Choice Extremely Fine.
75.5 mm. 2306.8 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. A most attractive example of this rarity. Gently mottled medium to deep gray on the obverse with soft accents of olive and pale blue blended in throughout. The reverse is toned similarly with a bit more light gray near the center. Traces of prooflike reflectivity remain in tight outlines around the obverse details. This is seen to a significantly larger degree on the reverse where larger portions of the fields are better protected by the layout of the design. Scattered nicks and marks of varying depths clearly indicate this to have been an awarded medal. However, it does not seem to have been worn long, as considerable sharpness remains and there are no serious marks. A fine die crack connects the tops of ENT of PRESIDENT, and there appears to be small break in the inside rim over the U of UNITED. With this issue comes the first replacement of the original reverse dies cut for the 1809-dated James Madison medals. As mentioned under previous lots, it was decided in 1846 that the reverse dies then long in use were no longer in good enough condition to guarantee a good outcome from any large-scale striking operation. Approval was granted for the reverses of all three sizes to be replaced, and both hubs and dies were made. The director of the Mint reported on December 5, 1846, that the new dies were complete. All of the silver Zachary Taylor medals we have seen were struck using the new reverse die, which differed only slightly from the previous one in the thickness and position of the lettering and also the shape of the letter As, which were pointed on the earlier die and now flat-topped. Michael Hodder commented in Ford XVIII that "Large Taylors are not all that terribly rare," but they are also very far from common. Mint records indicate that 149 of them were struck, but very few were distributed before the president died in office. Mint records also show that 112 were returned to be melted in preparation for the striking of the Millard Fillmore medals. That left just 37 large-size medals issued. Carl Carlson found only four auction records for a large-size Taylor, and there have been a few appearances since his work was published in 1986. Two examples appeared in the Ford sales, including this one. The present writer's survey of medals found eight apparent original specimens in silver. Four more are restrikes from later copy dies, though they have masqueraded as original medals for some time. These are in the collections of the ANS, the Gilcrease Museum, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial at St. Louis and in the Crane Collection at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. These can be identified by their crosslet 4 and a period after the date. The one we have a weight for is also much heavier than the originals for which we have that data, and the piercings are inconsistently placed. On the originals, the suspension piercings are fairly precise in their positions. Of the eight originals we are aware of one is at Colonial Williamsburg and another is at the Missouri Historical Society, so there are very few for collectors. As such, this is in fact a very rare medal where collectable specimens are concerned.
Ex David Pierce, January 1965; John J. Ford, Jr.; Stack’s sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVIII, May 2007, lot 121; Stack’s, January 2010, lot 4744.
Estimate: $15000