1889 Benjamin Harrison Indian Peace Medal. Oval. Julian IP-47, Prucha-58. Bronzed Copper. MS-65 BN (NGC).75.4 mm x 59.3 mm. The surfaces are smooth light olive brown, glossy and very attractive. Two small spots on the obverse rim and another above PEACE on the reverse are the only defects worthy of mention.The oval Harrison medal is another very rare issue, even more so than the original Garfield offered earlier. While there are known oval Garfields in silver, there are no such pieces known for the oval Harrison, an issue that is not believed to have been officially issued at all. Naturally, this puts more stress on the supply of bronzes, and they are also very rare. We have only three such medals in our online archives, two nice ones and one lower grade example with surface problems. The best one of these (MS-67 NGC) sold most recently in our November 2020 sale of the Larry Ness Collection and realized $7,200. The other one, which we last offered as "About Uncirculated" in January 2009, realized more than $5,000. This one ranks between those two, but much closer to the Ness example. The initial plan for the Harrison medals was to follow what had been done beginning with the Hayes administration in 1877, creating an oval medal bearing the same reverse design. As there had been little demand for medals to be issued, most of these were struck out of tradition and for the Mint sales list anyway, so it is doubtful if much official thought was given to the process. When the Harrison administration did seek medals to award officially, it requested different designs prompted by direct requests from a delegation of Oto and Missouri men who had visited Washington. They specified that medals should be round, of a certain diameter and of good silver, even offering to pay the costs themselves. Thus, the ovals were not only never used in any official capacity, they likely fell immediately out of favor with any collectors close enough to the Mint to understand what had transpired. This said, the round Harrison medals in bronze are also very rare, so perhaps collector demand for this series at the time was minimal to begin with.From the Larry Baber Collection.
