Undated (1776-1814) George III Indian Peace Medal. Struck Solid Silver. Middle Size. Adams 8.1, Choice Extremely Fine.

60.6 mm. 894.2 grains. Original ornamented hanger firmly affixed. Lovely medium to light silver gray with traces of soft blue and gold iridescence. Unusually choice surfaces overall with faint hairlines and just a few tiny marks and fine scratches that only come into view upon close inspection. Very well made with bold definition throughout. Off the market since our 2006 Ford sale, this remains among the most attractive examples of this size we recall having handled. Struck from the first reverse, which seems to have failed early as all seen exhibit a prominent break from the lion to the unicorn, through the lower half of the central shield. This size is much scarcer than the larger one. John Adams found only 16 examples for his modern census of middle-size pieces compared with 86 for those of the largest size. However, one of the middle size is described as in white metal rather than silver, so the total of silver medals in his survey was 15. One had no reverse variety specified, but the remaining 14 were evenly divided between first and second reverse pieces. Including the appearance of this in the Ford sale, we have only three sales records in our online archives for a second-size from the cracked reverse.

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 54.