Undated (circa 1776-1814) George III Indian Peace Medal. Struck Solid Silver. Large Size. Adams 7.2. Choice Extremely Fine.

78.2 mm. 1463.2 grains. Original suspension loop intact, though flattened a bit. Deeply toned surfaces are largely dark gray, but with generous pale blue overtones seen on both sides. Another beautiful medal of unusually nice quality, with nuances of prooflike character still visible in the fields. However, this piece still exhibits plenty of the small marks and thin scratches that attest to it having served its intended purpose as a displayed marker of Native allegiance to the King. Most of the marks are difficult to see without close study, other than a couple of very small rim nicks. Very sharp and very attractive. Of the 86 first-size George III medals listed in John Adams' census, this is the rarest of the three major die varieties with just 15 entries (there were 24 of Adams 7.1 and 32 of Adams 7.3, though the 7.1 medals were divided into the struck and shell construction sub-variants, so each of those is just a little rarer than this). Still, for the estimated output of the large George III medals, these are rather rare. In this quality, they are very rare indeed. It is not completely clear which medal this is in the Adams census, but as it was his medal and he had it in his possession as of 1970, it would seem that it must be among those listed. It is probably #55, as the only other Eastern Collection example of 7.2 was from a "perfect die" while this example has the dramatic obverse break in the left field, crossing over the king's shoulder.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from Sotheby's Canada, May 1970, lot 214; John W. Adams; our (Stack's) sale of January 2009, lot 5039.