British Canada under King George III. Testimonial of Fidelity and Medal Presentation. May 1, 1788. Given under hand of Sir John Johnson, Baronet, Superintendent General and Inspector General of Indian Affairs in America to Quinonsamesque, a Chief of the Ottawas. Very Fine. Approximately 300 mm x 210 mm. On laid cream paper. Part printed, bilingual English and French document in two columns, the left side completed by hand in brown ink, the right side is left unaccomplished as redundant. Sealed with wax at the upper left. Creased three times vertically, once horizontally. Minor discoloration along some parts of the folds, while small separations are noted along the leftmost vertical one, especially at its intersection with the horizontal. Bright and quite clean otherwise, professionally and attractively matted, framed and glazed for display.<p>Documents like this would have originally accompanied most if not all of the official medallic awards to Native Americans, serving as the official explanatory distinction. Though at the time of issue, the documents and medals should have existed in roughly the same number, the paper documents naturally lacked durability and were more frequently lost than were the medals. As such, every surviving testimonial document of this nature must be identified as nothing less than a remarkable survivor. These are great rarities, indeed, and it has been more than a decade since we have offered one. Those that exist have largely gravitated toward institutional collections where, thankfully, they are likely to be preserved. Unfortunately, however, they are equally unlikely to be widely appreciated in such collections.<p>This example is particularly notable as it is specified to have accompanied a "small medal," which would have been an award given a chief of lesser rank than a Sachem (head Chief), or a primary War Chief. Rank was important among the recipients just as it was to the presenting entity. The third-size or smallest of the George III medals are the rarest of the issues in that period. The numbers of documents presented, and the numbers of medals issued would naturally correspond, so it is worth noting here again that John Adams was able to find about 70 first-size undated George III medals for his modern census, just 16 for the second size and only two of the size that would have accompanied this document. This said, the George and Charlotte medals must also be counted in this context, and Adams found 13 examples in his modern census, still a very small number of survivors. One of the two known undated George III portrait types is offered in the previous lot, and is the only example in private hands. This testimonial could well have been that issued with the medal above-the chances are certainly much greater with extremely rare items than with others, but that unfortunately cannot be determined. Still, the pair tell a more complete story of these medallic awards, and the presence of both in the Slovick Family Collection is an outstanding circumstance.<p>Out of necessity, indigenous names of Native American chiefs were written phonetically, but there was no phonetic standard in use, so most names that appeared in print would be found with different spellings. A French-speaker likely established the spelling on this document, "Quinonsamesque." Though this 1788-dated testimonial was presented alongside a medal of George III, the shifting of alliances and exchanges of medals were not uncommon. In fact, it was a goal of both the British and the Americans in order to increase the ranks of their Native American allies. Seven years after Quinonsamesque pledged fidelity to the English Crown, an Ottawa chief given as "Kee-No-Sha-meek" signed the Treaty of Greenville. There is a very good chance that these names belong to the same person.Due to the size and nature of this lot, additional shipping charges apply. Please call 800-458-4646 for more information. From the Ronald A. Slovick Family Collection. Earlier from Sothebys New York sale of the William Guthman Collection, December 2005, lot 319.
