Undated (ca. 1714-60) George I/II Indian Trade medal. Brass. Jamieson-2, Quarcoopome II-C. Very Fine.

. 40.2 mm. 378.0 grains. Unusually nice surfaces for one of these rare medals. Glossy chocolate brown with traces of warm golden brass on some of the high points, particularly at the rims. Close inspection reveals minor porosity and a few scattered marks, the most prominent being a good identifier just below the front of the King's neck. The original integral suspension loop is lost, and what were probably undesirable rough remnants were smoothed from the edge. Still, this does not have the appearance of a ground find, which is a welcomed comment on the generally nice condition of the medal. Excellent clarity remains through all the major details. This is the most commonplace type of these brass medals created for the semi-official Indian Trade. Made and distributed by private enterprise through a network of traders who had the tacit support of the government in British North America, medals of this sort appear archaeologically in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. The largest single deposit seems to have been the ca. 1900 Natrona Find (see the Bowers and Merena 1987 Frederick Taylor sale for more), discovered on the banks of the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh. The preponderance of individual finds in the literature come from western Pennsylvania and western New York. These would have been carried, in some quantity, by fur traders in these areas, alongside of iron tools, beads, and more, to incentivize trade in pelts with the local natives. These are not treaty medals, but rather served as something akin to a frontier currency in the dominant economic sector of the American interior during the mid 18th century.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from the F.C.C. Boyd Estate; John J. Ford, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVI, October 2006, lot 29; our (Stack's) sale of January 2009, lot 5072.