1825 John Quincy Adams Indian Peace Medal. Bronze. Third Size. First Reverse. Julian IP-13, Prucha-42. MS-63 BN (NGC). 51.1 mm. 970.7 grains. Gently mottled chestnut and deep mahogany bronze. A fine satin finish, yet slightly prooflike on the reverse. A few tiny marks and a couple of ancient verdigris spots nestled into the President’s bust. A gentle rim bump is also noted just left of the truncation. Struck from the original dies and from an earlier state of the dies than seen on the silver piece offered previously. The John Quincy Adams medal in this size is very rare in any format. Collectors expect the silver Peace medals to be rare, and likewise assume the bronzes sold by the Mint to be fairly available, easy marks if one should decide to acquire them. However, this is not always the case and this particular medal is one that is very tough. Carl Carlson found just four auction records for a small-size John Quincy Adams in bronze without noting the number of different specimens. For silver examples, he found just three records which is an illustrative comparison. While the present writer has not endeavored to do census work on bronzes, it is notable that the Ford Collection included just one and we have sold only one other example over the last decade. The most recent one to appear in our sales was this very piece, back in 2011. Ex Presidential Coin and Antique, December 2005, lot 544; Aesculapius Collection of Indian Peace Medals, Stack’s, January 2011, lot 6217.
