1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Silver. First Size. Julian IP-27. Prucha-47. Choice Very Fine. 75.5 mm. 2346.9 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. Actually a bit sharper than the grade suggests, but this is apparently a "lost and found" medal. Though the surfaces have largely been cleaned to a light silver gray, close inspection reveals dark and somewhat thick deposits remaining in many of the recesses, while at least some of the surface is microscopically granular. A few tiny rim bumps and the usual scattering of surface marks are indicative of a presented medal, while some obvious reeding marks indicate this spent a little time in a bag of coins, probably between the time it was found and when it was first sold into the care of a collector who would fully appreciate this immensely historic object. Matters of the surface aside, the detail here is actually quite sharp, probably more in line with an Extremely Fine grade. As on the Ness Collection specimen, there is a small rim break noted over the U in UNITED.<p>With this issue comes the first replacement of the original reverse dies cut for the 1809-dated James Madison medals. As alluded to under previous lots, it was decided in 1846 that the reverse dies then long in use were no longer in good enough condition to guarantee a good outcome from any large-scale striking operation. Approval was granted for the reverses of all three sizes to be replaced, and both hubs and dies were made. The Director of the Mint reported on December 5, 1846, that the new dies were complete. All of the original silver Zachary Taylor medals we have seen were struck using the new reverse die, which differed only slightly from the previous one in the thickness and position of the lettering and also the shape of the letter As, which were pointed on the earlier die and now flat-topped.<p>It was commented in Ford XVIII that "Large Taylors are not all that terribly rare," but they are very far from common, to be sure. Mint records indicate that 149 were struck, but very few were distributed before the president died in office. Mint records also show that 112 were returned to be melted in preparation for the striking of the Millard Fillmore medals. That left just 37 large-size medals issued. Carl Carlson found only four auction records for a large-size Taylor, and there have been a few appearances since his work was published in 1986. Two examples appeared in the Ford sales. The present writers survey of surviving medals includes just nine genuine examples, and three of these are in institutional collections. Contrary to the referenced opinion printed in Ford XVIII, the first-size Taylor medals are actually very rare. Even the extensive ANS Collection is missing a genuine original example. From the Ronald A. Slovick Family Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of September 1984, lot 3286.
