1857 James Buchanan Indian Peace Medal. Fillmore-Pierce Reverse. Silver. First Size. Julian IP-36, Prucha-Unlisted. MS-62 (NGC).

76.0 mm. 2872.0 grains. Beautifully toned with rich red, blue, gray and orange mottling on both sides, while small areas of more brilliant silver remain on both sides. Fine die polishing lines are seen in the fields and contribute to the softly lustrous appearance. Some light handling on the high points and a notable small reeding mark in the lower left reverse field illustrate that this has probably not always been in careful numismatic hands. An extremely rare entry among the silver Peace medals, this is the only example from these dies we have handled in this composition. When this was last sold by us, it was indicated as "struck for Buchanan before his distinctive scalping and port hole die was completed." While this supposed sequence might make sense, close comparison of this piece with the issued large-size Buchanan in this sale clarifies that this was struck later. The dies have been ground a bit, with some losses to the hair detail at the back of Buchanan's head, removal of two tiny blunt protrusions at the back of his coat, and removal of the small rough patch under his chin. It is unclear when this was struck or for whom, but it clearly has some age to it and the handling marks are supportive of that. It was likely produced for a collector in the late 19th century. Mint records published by Robert Julian include some intriguing entries. In 1864 and 1865, there are reports of 10 bronzes being struck. Either entry could represent impressions from this reverse and mark an occasion where an extra was produced in silver. Records were not as precisely maintained as we might like to think, and there are cases where the records state only that Peace medals were produced, without mention of a president. One of those cases appeared in 1895/96, where seven Peace medals were struck in silver, perhaps of a variety of presidents. This may never be figured out with certainty, but we do know for a fact that this medal is a great rarity in silver. It is the only example we are aware of in private hands, and the only one confirmed to be on a weight standard close to that which evidence suggests is appropriate for the 1850s or 1860s. Two others purported to be silver impressions are in the Crane Collection in Denver, but we have a weight for one that is much different than this piece and corresponds alarmingly to that expected of a bronze impression, calling at least that into question. One Crane example is pierced, while the other has a suspension loop affixed to the edge (not unlike some silver restrikes of the oval series from the Dr. William Bridge Collection.)

From the E Pluribus Unum Collection. Earlier discovered in Portland, Oregon; Tipsico Coin; our (Stack's) sale of January 2011, lot 6235.