1817 James Monroe Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. First Size. First Reverse. Julian IP-8, Prucha-41. Uncirculated Details--Environmental Damage (NGC). 75.5 mm. 3299.5 grains. Uniform light chocolate brown surfaces are glossy on the reliefs and generously reflective in the fields. A few tiny marks and shallow outlines of old spots from an apparent spill on the reverse have somewhat marred the surface, but the eye appeal is still fairly good overall. This is presumably struck from the original dies used to produce the very rare silver originals. In the case of the obverse, we have seen no original impression in hand to compare it with. The reverse is from the original die, the same one used on the Madison medals offered above. It is in a virtually identical die state as that seen on the bronze Madison, with spalling beneath the lower right finger of the clasped hands, at the left of the cuffed wrist, and elsewhere to lesser degree.Though the bronze impressions from the dies are not great rarities, they are essentially the only format in which a collector is likely to be able to acquire a large-size Monroe. In the writer’s study of known silver medals, only a single obviously original impression has been found in private hands, while two other possible examples are at Massachusetts Historical Society and in the Crane Collection at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We have not seen the Crane specimen in person, nor do we have a weight, so we mention it with some reservation. A third silver example, in the ANS, is clearly a restrike made from the replacement reverse die engraved in 1846. In fact, the large Monroe in silver might be the rarest medal in the entire series. The rarity fits the numbers believed produced and distributed. There were only 32 large-size Monroe medals struck in silver, delivered circa 1820. As of 1822, 24 of these were still on hand and it has been suggested they were likely melted. This is unclear, and we doubt that it is factual because it would be several years before the medals of the next administration were ready for distribution, but the rate of apparent survival points to a very small number of distributed medals, indeed. John Ford never acquired one and suspected that none existed. Ex Stack’s, January 2011, lot 6212.
