1881 James A. Garfield Indian Peace Medal. Copper, Bronzed. Julian IP-44, Prucha-55. MS-66 BN (NGC).
75 mm x 60 mm, oval. Pleasing olive-brown surfaces with faint tints of soft gold and pale green. Traces of somewhat richer red remain in the protected recesses. A subtle spot in the patina is noted around IE of GARFIELD, and appears to only be an anomaly in the coloring rather than any type of oxidation. One small spot is noted at the top of the wreath in the reverse exergue. Soft prooflike texture throughout the fields and nice quality overall. Another very rare entry in this series. Unlike for the Rutherford B. Hayes medals, there were a few original medals struck in silver for the Garfield administration for distribution to Native Americans. As noted in Prucha, the adopted methodology was to strike medals as needed rather than to produce a large number for eventual distribution, though it seems that group of 25 silver Garfields were struck all at once and may have been the entire mintage in silver. Survivors are very rare, with just three in private hands. With the silver impressions prohibitively rare, and original bronzes not that much more available, there is fairly strong collector enthusiasm when one does come up for sale, and superb pieces command healthy prices. Carl Carlson found only three auction records for bronze Garfield medals and four records for silver ones, though we suspect that he may have inadvertently included restrikes among the latter. The Ford Collection contained one silver and two bronzes. The Larry Ness Collection included a Gem bronze, graded MS-67, that brought $9,000 in our November 2020 sale.

Estimate: $5000