Indian Peace Medals

Very Sharp 1857 James Buchanan in Silver

The First Size

1857 James Buchanan Indian Peace Medal. First Size. Julian IP-34, Prucha-50. Silver. Extremely Fine.

75.7 mm. 2650.8 grains. Neatly pierced for suspension at 12:00, as issued. Primarily dark gray silver, with light brownish gray in some of the recesses and generous traces of soft blue iridescence on both sides when the medal is at a certain angle to the light. A gentle bend is detected in the flan, though there is no other damage such as large impact marks to account for it. In fact, the surfaces are rather nice aside from the fine hairlines and tiny marks that come into view under magnification. Evidence of multiple strikes is seen on both sides, but this is expected and usually seen as we know that several impressions from the dies were necessary to fully bring up the reliefs on these large medals. This piece is quite sharp, with excellent detail throughout. The rims are high and sharp, with a broad wire around much of the reverse and a small arc on the obverse. Though overshadowed a bit by the more famous Lincoln medals, this is the first use of a new reverse design that happens to include what is believed to be the first medallic depiction of baseball. A prominent centering dot on this die, used by the engraver to align his engraving work, serves as a ball in flight on both of the original dies (large and small format) by Joseph Willson. When the large reverse die broke after just a few impressions for the Lincoln administration, a copy die was produced which does not bear this detail. The writer knows of 16 different specimens, and this is among the nicer in terms of overall sharpness and cleanliness of the surfaces. The aforementioned bend is relatively minor and of little aesthetic consequence. Unfortunately we have not yet been able to ascertain a provenance for this medal, but believe that it has been off the market since at least 1981.

Estimate: $ 12000