Indian Peace Medals
1857 James Buchanan Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-35, Prucha-50. Very Fine.
62.7 mm. 1550.7 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. Deep gray surfaces with some golden brown patina and outlines of dull steel blue and gray around the devices and in the protected recesses. This is a rather rough medal that has seen an unusual degree of handling but little actual wear, as the details are really quite sharp throughout, and traces of reflectivity remain in the fields. Numerous fairly heavy but small nicks are seen on both sides, along with a few longer cuts. Rim bumps are fairly constant around the edge to one degree or another, and one large one is noted just right of the truncation. It is hard to imagine the story this medal has to tell, but it would undoubtedly be fascinating! Following the plan for the Fillmore and Pierce medals, only two sizes were issued for the Buchanan administration. There were reportedly 69 large-size medals struck and 74 of this size, and according to Prucha there was no indication that any were returned and melted. This suggests that the rarities of the two sizes today should be about equal. Carl Carlson noted three auction records for large-size medals and seven records for this size. However, like his information for many other issues, there was no report as to how many different medals were represented in these auction records. In the Ford sales, there were two of each size, but Michael Hodder noted in his descriptions of the two smaller ones that he was aware of only two different medals of this size (in the 2006 sale) and that he was aware of three sales (in the 2007 catalog, which would have incorporated the 2006 appearance). The present writer has identified 12 different specimens, with five of them in institutional collections.
Ex David W. Dreyfuss, Bowers and Merena, April 1986, lot 5173; Stack’s, September 2005, lot 212.
Estimate: $6000