1829 Andrew Jackson Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-15, Prucha-43. Fine.
62 mm. 1403.6 grains. Holed for suspension at 12 o'clock, with an old silver loop still present. A well-worn awarded medal depicting the American president with perhaps the most infamous record relating to Native Americans. Attractive deep gray over surfaces pebbled with contact marks from extensive use, more deeply toned at the rims. The central reverse, below AND, retains some of the original surface texture, but nearly all other areas show light contact marks. A few minor rim marks are noted, most serious over PE of PEACE. The central devices still show good overall detail, and the visual impact is very appealing. This is a rare issue, and the rarest of the three sizes issued. John J. Ford owned just one Jackson of this size (a high-grade piece that sold for $28,750), and Michael Hodder noted records on just three others, one of which was in the ANS. The present writer has accounted for 13 distinct specimens, but at least five of these are in institutional collections. Jackson medals are from a pivotal time in Native American history. The Jackson administration passed the 1830 Indian Removal Act which effectively accelerated the movement of Native people from their eastern homelands to reserved territories west of the Mississippi. This is the Act that paved the way for the infamous, Trail of Tears, the forced removal of thousands of Cherokee in 1838 and 1839.
From Presidential Coin and Antique's sale of December 1993, lot 202; Lucien LaRiviere Collection; our (Stack's) sale of January 1996, lot 73; our (Stack's) Summer 1997 FPL; Charles Wharton Collection; our sale of the Charles Wharton Collection, August 2013 ANA Auction, lot 1045.