Indian Peace Medals
1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-28, Prucha-47. Extremely Fine.
62.4 mm. 1466.3 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. Mostly light silver gray with some darker patina outlining the design details. Traces of soft blue and gold iridescence are gently mottled through the fields which retain traces of reflectivity. This is strongest on the reverse where the design elements have better protected the fields. Tiny marks are noted throughout, as one would expect from an awarded medal. Some light hairlines are noted, as are a couple of small rim nicks, the most prominent of which are from impacts with the original suspension loop which is now gone. The details are quite sharp, and portions of the reverse have a fairly prominent wire rim. The medal is most handsome overall. In fact, it is easily the finer of just two examples known to us in silver. As is the case with the large-size Taylor medals, all examples of the second size we have seen in silver were struck using the new reverse die, finished in 1846. According to Mint records, 198 examples of this size Taylor were struck for distribution, but when the president died in office, in July 1850, most remained unused and were quickly returned to the mint. It was recorded that 162 of this size remained unissued and were melted for restriking into Fillmore medals for the incoming administration. This would have left just 36 issued medals. Today, it seems that the second size Taylor in silver is comfortably the rarest of the three sizes. Carl Carlson found no auction records for these and this is one of the very rare cases where no examples were included in the extensive John J. Ford, Jr. holdings. When Michael Hodder cataloged the first of two bronze examples in the Ford sale, he commented that a silver one “may well be unobtainable by anyone,” referencing this example as the only one known. We are aware of two specimens, this and one that we offered in our March 2013 sale. As such, the second-size Zachary Taylor is one of the rarest silver medals in the entire American series.
Ex Presidential Coin and Antique’s Litman, Sullivan and Dreyfuss sale, December 2004, lot 537; Stack’s, February 2008, lot 3582; Stack’s, September 2009, lot 6130; Stack’s Bowers Galleries, August 2012; 11138.
Estimate: $20000