1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. Third Size. Second Reverse. Julian IP-29, Prucha-47. MS-62 BN (NGC). 51.0 mm. 867.0 grains. Deep mahogany brown with some mottling in the patina on both sides. The obverse is flecked with darker patina spots, while the reverse has some lighter color speckled through the fields. A few dark but superficial obverse spots are also noted. Satiny and sharp with only minor handling.<p>Struck from the original dies intended for the issued medals and used on the silver ones for presentation. The reverse seen here is frequently known as the 1846 reverse, as it was called for and cut in that year, but not put into service until the Taylor medals were struck in 1849.<p>All small-size Taylor medals are rare. Silver originals are prohibitively so, and it might be the case that the bronzes are not far behind in this regard. We have sold three examples over the years going back to the Ford sales (with a couple of repeat appearances of the same medals). A search of the Heritage archives turned up just one with the original reverse. Carl Carlsons research of auction appearances turned up just three, fewer than half of what he found for silver impressions. From the Ronald A. Slovick Family Collection. Earlier from our (Bowers and Merenas) sale of the David W. Dreyfuss Collection, April 1986, lot 5159.
