Undated (ca. 1776-1814) George III Indian Peace Medal. Struck Solid Silver. Third Size. Adams 9.1 (Obverse 1, Reverse A). Extremely Fine.

37.8 mm. 308.8 grains. The original ornamented hanger is intact, and tight. Obverse die unsigned. Obv: Youthful mantled bust of George III, right. Rev: The royal arms and supporters. An exceptional survivor of this rare issue, with deep silver gray patina gently accented by blended pale blue and gold toning. Nuances of reflectivity remain in the fields, while the usual array of fine surface marks can be seen under close inspection. No visible marks are severe enough to warrant specific mention and the medal not only has a sharp appearance, it feels sharp in hand. This is an extremely rare issue, which John Adams was only able to represent in his Census by two specimens, one in the Glenbow Museum, and this superior one, the only known in private hands. For comparison, it is worth noting that he counted around 70 of the first size medals in his modern census and 16 for the second size. It seems clear that very few of this size were issued to begin with and it is unlikely that many exist, even in dark corners of institutional collections that were not on Adams' radar in the 1990s. Since the reverse used here was also used for the more common George and Charlotte medals, Adams suggests that the obverse of the George III type broke early, and that the unusual George and Charlotte types were quickly put into service. Since the last appearance of this in our October 2006 Ford sale, we have seen but one additional tantalizing third-size medal, a piece repurposed as a school medal in 1823, with the original reverse design gone and replaced by an engraved inscription. Its Peace medal history is thus lost. This remains the only third size Peace medal of its type available to collectors and it seems worth pointing out that it has been nearly 18 years since it was last available for sale.

From the Ronald A. Slovick Family Collection. Earlier ex Melvin E. Came, December 1962; John J. Ford, Jr.; our (Stack's) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVI, October 2006, lot 53.

Estimate: $20000