(Ca. 1777) George III Lion and Wolf Indian Peace Medal. Betts-535, Adams 10.1, Dies 1-A. Silver, 61 mm. AU-55 (PCGS). 836.1 grains. Original decorative mount and pin intact. A world class specimen of perhaps the most evocative design to ever be placed on an Indian Peace medal. Deep olive gray surfaces boast golden highlights and a glossy lustrous glow. With no marks, dents, damage, or any defect beyond subtle hairlines, the eye appeal of this example is choice even beyond its high technical grade. Some minor rim abrasions are seen in the lower left obverse, but the rim is intact and other issues are trivial. Its hard to imagine a superior example. The die state is early and unbroken, allowing all the fine detail to be crisp on both sides. While a later die state piece is as worthy a collectible as one this early, it is nice to see a piece in this kind of grade able to display all the dies elegant engraving work.
The Adams census of this rare type counted 19 pieces. One of them turned out not to exist, and a new addition was made to the listing of known examples in our November 2020 Larry Ness offering. This is certainly the finest example offered in the marketplace within the lifetime of modern collectors (though the example in Thomas Jeffersons medal collection at Monticello is also very high grade). More than half of all known Lion and Wolf medals are impounded in institutional collections, leaving fewer than 10 collectible examples. Of those, the average condition is quite low, and it appears this type in particular was favored enough that most were worn for multiple generations, even past the moments when hangers fell out to be replaced by a hole, and holes wore thin at the rim and required a second or third. It begs the question of how this survived in such high grade; was it a Revolutionary-era souvenir like Jeffersons appears to have been?
The august and confident lion defending a settlement in the forest from a skinny but threatening wolf is a thoughtful metaphor - and marketing appeal - for the British alliance with native tribes along the Canadian frontier. It does what medals are intended to do: tells a story through art intended to communicate an ideal. It is no wonder these medals were so cherished and worn, almost literally, to death. They symbolize a century-long relationship between the British establishment in North America and the tribes of the American frontier.
Since this medal was sold as a highlight in John Fords Indian Peace medal collection in 2006, three Lion and Wolf medals were presented in our (Stacks) 2009 John W. Adams sale (two solid, one struck shells) and two others were sold in our 2020 Larry Ness sale. Two were sold in the Ford Collection sale; one reappeared in 2011, selling to Larry Ness. This is the other one, which has now been off the market for nearly two decades.
From the Richard Margolis Collection. Earlier from a Wallis and Wallis sale; A.H. Baldwin and Sons, June 1969; our (Stacks) sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVI, October 2006, lot 50.
