1845 James K. Polk Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. Third Size. Julian IP-26, Prucha-46. Second Reverse. MS-61 BN (NGC). 50.9 mm. 808.4 grains. Mottled golden-brown surfaces have clearly been cleaned at some point, but have somewhat mellowed over the years. Silver Polks of this size are known to be great rarities, with just six originally issued. Bronzes of this size are also very rare, probably much more so than has been realized. When Carl Carlson did his study of auction appearances, he found only one more appearance for a bronze than a silver of this size. Similarly, our online archives seem to have only three medals going back to the Ford sales, and remarkably, none of them is from the second reverse, as here. This has been off the market since 2001, having appeared in our (Bowers and Merenas) Tree Many Feathers sale, but at the time we also had not realized how unusual this medal is, since much of the focus for Peace medals has been devoted to silver originals. From our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of the Tree Many Feathers Collection, November 2001, lot 5166. Lot tag included.
