1853 Franklin Pierce Indian Peace medal. Silver. First Size. Julian IP-32, Prucha-49. EF Details--Tooled (NGC). 76 mm. Neatly pierced at 12 oclock, as issued. Fairly light silver-gray with gentle darkening close to the rims, through the letters of the legends and around the design features. The surfaces feature many tiny marks, some long ago smoothed over from continued wear as typical of an awarded and worn Peace medal. There are many fine scratches, a bit of tooling, and many hairlines, again, all as typical. One small obverse rim bump is probably the only mark that stands out quickly as most of the handling is minor and well scattered about the large surface area. The even wear is not by any means severe, as superb detail remains on both sides and the eye appeal is really quite nice for one of these medals.</p><p>Intriguing remnants of initials can be found on both sides of this piece. In most numismatic cases, engraved initials are negative, but on Indian Peace medals, such evidence is tantalizing as a potential starting point for identifying a Native American recipient or owner. In this case, it seems that the fine engravings are simply G.S.M., in cursive, in the left field of both sides. The obverse might have an additional letter. Though an attempt to efface this from the reverse was clearly undertaken, the initials are clear under close examination.</p><p>This is one of just 15 large size Franklin Pierce medals confirmed by the present writer. Curiously, only one of these 15 seems to be in an institutional collection. Two others have been reported in museums but have not been confirmed. The fact that so few are in museum holdings, leaving nearly all to circulate amongst collectors, has given the impression that this is a more common issue than it really is.</p> From NASCAs Kessler-Spangenberger sale, April 1981, lot 1623; John Adams; John J. Ford, Jr., May 1982; Donald G. Partrick; Heritages sale of the Donald G. Partrick Collection, March 2021, lot 15191.
