1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. First Size. Julian IP-27, Prucha-47. Second Obverse, Second Reverse. MS-64 BN (NGC). 76 mm. Uniform pale mahogany-brown with bold satiny luster on both sides. One small nick in the right obverse field is the only one that stands out visually and is certainly the reason this largely otherwise pristine medal is not graded higher. Boldly struck, with strong detail and great eye appeal. One of the most interesting things about these high-quality bronze impressions (for an IPM researcher), is the degree of detail visible. With this medal, a centering dot in the reverse design was noticed. It is on all second reverse impressions, but as it is on a high point of relief it is only visible on the sharpest and least handled medals. This is not found on the second or third size medals of this design, clarifying that the first size was the original die cut in 1846, and the other sizes were simply reductions from it.The obverse die is not the original used for the issued silver medals. It is a replacement die easily distinguished by the crosslet 4 in the date and the lack of a period right of the same digit. This is the standard die pairing for the first-size Taylor medal in bronze.
