1889 Benjamin Harrison Indian Peace Medal. Copper, Bronzed. Julian IP-47, Prucha-58. MS-67 BN (NGC). 75 mm x 59 mm, oval. Another exceptional medal in this remarkable offering of bronze oval Peace medals, one of the nicest such offerings we have had the pleasure of presenting. Somewhat light chestnut brown with fairly rich overtones of gold and pale blue-green through the fields. Like the last superb one we handled, in our Ness Collection sale in November 2020, this has aggressive swirling die polish in the fields. The texture gives the fields a very lively appearance when the medal is turned in the light. Only the most trivial of marks can be detected under magnification, and none is worthy of mention.The oval medals for the Harrison administration were the result of the Mint simply following what had been done for all the recent presidents, beginning with Rutherford B. Hayes. The official need for Peace medals had dropped off considerably, and most of those struck were for the Mint list and collectors. For this administration, the use of all ovals turned out to be private collector sales, as when the Harrison administration made motions for medals for presentation under its authority, it desired different designs entirely. This was not their idea, however, but the specific request of a delegation of Oto and Missouri men who visited Washington in 1890. They specified that they wished to have round silver medals not less than 2.5 inches in diameter, and they wanted them badly enough that they offered to pay the costs themselves, undoubtedly an unprecedented situation. The officials complied and from this was born the last of the officially issued Peace medals of the United States, the round Benjamin Harrison.As for the ovals, since none were ever issued there are no original silver examples known or likely to exist. We are aware of only two potential silver impressions. One is overweight and certainly a later collector strike. It was in the Dr. William Bridge Collection offered by Rich Hartzog (World Exonumia), in September 1991. It perhaps went unsold, as that firm is credited with having gifted it to the ANS in 2007. The other is in the Francis and Mary Crane Collection in Denver. We have only seen images of it, but it is unconvincing as even a mint restrike.Bronze impressions are rare and naturally very desirable. Carlson had recorded four auction appearances, while the Ford Collection did not include one at all. For more than a decade, no nice example of this medal in bronze has realized less than $5,000 (an MS-63 brought just over that in our recently closed Spring 2023 sale), while a raw one called "Mint State" realized just shy of $10,000 in our March 2016 sale.
