1849 Zachary Taylor Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. 62.33 mm. 1,675.3 grains. Julian IP-28, Prucha-47. Very Fine.Holed for suspension as typical, but without loop. Pleasant steel-gray patina overall with lighter highlights on the legends and higher portions of the design. A nuance of pale blue toning is detected in the fields at a certain angle to the light. There are small field nicks typical for awarded Peace Medals, especially in front of Taylors bust and below the clasped hands on the reverse. A heavy vertical cut is visible on the highest part of the head, and continues on the shoulder drapery as well. There are areas of old scratches on both sides, particularly near the rims and around Taylors portrait. A couple of fairly small rim nicks and bumps are noted on each side, the heaviest being on the reverse near 8:00. Despite the noted flaws, which are little more than identifiers on an awarded Peace Medal, this specimen presents well and has a very appealing appearance. This said, any collector desiring two own a second size Taylor has precious few options.Zachary Taylors death shortly after taking office contributes to the rarity of all three sizes of his silver Peace Medals. While 198 silver pieces were struck in this size, 162 were returned and melted for his successors (Millard Fillmore) Peace Medals. The second size is always elusive. In fact, it is believed that this is only the second known specimen in collectors hands. The other most recently sold by us (Stacks Bowers) in the August 2012 American Numismatic Association sale, for over $54,625, entering an advanced private collection. This size silver was not represented in the nearly comprehensive Ford Collection, or for that matter in the collections of Garrett, Schenkel, Dreyfuss, or LaRiviere. It is considered as possibly the scarcest round silver Indian Peace medal struck after 1801. As such, the appearance of this medal is a major opportunity for the specialist. From the collection of Jochen Zeitz. Earlier from our sale of March 2013, lot 1005.
