1837 Martin Van Buren Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-18, Prucha-44. Choice Very Fine.

62.4 mm. 1361.8 grains. Uniform deep steely gray with subtle deposits seen in some of the finer recesses. Gentle traces of pale blue and some deeper gold overtones are noted when held at a certain angle to the light. Quite sharp but clearly a piece that was officially presented and worn for a time. Numerous tiny marks and scratches are seen under magnification and a small area of shallow porosity is seen on the reverse beneath the suspension hole. Notwithstanding, suggestions of prooflike character are still detected in the reverse fields. Close examination of the reverse reveals areas of spalling on the raised rim just left of the leftmost arm's cuff and below the FR of FRIENDSHIP. Some medals also show spalling on the rim above the tomahawk. That is not visible here, but is simply worn off, as it is subtly visible on the second-size Jackson medal in this sale. All examined Van Buren medals of this size show some degree of this spalling, but it seems to be on all the Tyler medals, so it was during this usage that the failures seem to have advanced most significantly. Though 112 of the second-size Van Buren medals are believed to have been struck, the largest mintage of the three sizes by just three pieces, this size has proven to be of virtually the same rarity as the smaller size, with just 13 specimens found of each. However, two of the second-size pieces are questionable as authentic silver originals. Carl Carlson found 12 auction appearances of this size in silver, yet the Ford Collection remarkably yielded only a single example. When Ford's was cataloged, Michael Hodder commented that he knew of only four specimens. Four of those known to us are in institutional collections which leaves very few for collectors. This has been off the market for 35 years.

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merena's) sale of the David W. Dreyfuss Collection, April 1986 , lot 5141.