1797 (ca. 1905) John Adams Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. First Size. Julian IP-1, for type, Prucha-59, for type. MS-64 (NGC). 75 mm. Deep olive-brown bronze with deep tan highlights on some of the more exposed reliefs. The surfaces are microgranular, as made, and give the piece a pleasing satin appearance. Julian and Prucha list this only in the small 51mm size, which seems to be the "original" format for the John Adams medals, but even these are thought to have been struck no earlier than the mid-19th century to sell to collectors, allowing them to "complete the set." There were no original medals produced in the name of this administration for distribution to Native Americans. The Seasons medals, devised for the second presidency of Washington, were not delivered until Washington was out of office. As a practical matter, those were distributed during the Adams administration. Many were left over and are known to have been distributed by Lewis and Clark (in addition to silver Jefferson medals), so there really was no need to create Adams medals at the time. According to Julian, this large-size John Adams variant went into production around 1905 to satisfy collector demand.
