1850 Millard Fillmore Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-31, Prucha-48. Fine. 63.3 mm. 1391.8 grains. Pierced for suspension as typical. Rather heavily hairlined from an old cleaning but nicely toned to soft pearl gray over much of the surface, with soft golden brown and accents of pale blue in places. Close to the rims and through the legends the toning is much deeper, and there are sharp outlines around the devices. Bumped in several places around the obverse rim and with a bit of graffiti cut into the left reverse field. Still quite sharp in terms of detail and not unattractive, all things considered.While the mintage figures are unspecified for the Fillmore medals by size, it is reported that 281 were struck for both sizes combined, and the number of middle size medals was to be 162, as the 162 left over middle size medals from the Taylor administration were to be used for them. At the end of the Fillmore presidency, 40 medals of this size were still on hand and returned to the Mint for use in striking the Pierce medals. This would have left 122 medium Fillmore medals issued, a larger number than for the first size medals. However, it is notable that the Ford Collection contained just two examples (including this one) while there were six large-size Fillmore medals. Carl Carlson had noted “7 or fewer” specimens among the 12 auction records he located. In the writer’s own survey of surviving specimens, the middle-size medals also turned out to be the scarcer of the two. Just 14 examples were located, with one unseen example among them technically unconfirmed. Four of these are in institutional collections. Ex F.C.C. Boyd Estate; John J. Ford, Jr.; Stack’s sale of the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, Part XVIII, May 2007, lot 136.
