 Andrew Jackson Indian Peace Medal, 1829. Silver. First Size. First Reverse. J.IP. 14, Pr.43, B.29. About Uncirculated. Obverse signed FURST F. 75.8mm. Rims 4.5 - 4.6mm thick. 2,880.4 gns. An outstanding example and a somewhat anomalous one given its remarkable weight and thickness. Die states as the other two offered here. Medium silver gray in color with patches of lighter gray and some iridescent blue and rose toning. The fields on both sides are brightly reflective and semi-prooflike. Not holed. Minor handling marks, light obverse hairlines. This size is known in silver originals and matte silver and copper restrikes. The finest seen example, a Choice AU remainder piece with prooflike surfaces, was sold in Sotheby's (New York) Zabriskie sale in June, 1999. The Ford specimens are close runners up to that piece's quality. As testament to the rarity of this size the cataloguer notes that it was missing from both the Garrett and Schenkel sales. Dreyfuss' was graded VF.
Carlson's research yielded only 11 auction records for a silver 76mm Jackson, a figure that undoubtedly includes duplicate appearances of the same medal. A matte silver 76mm Jackson in Kirtley's List 123 (November, 1995, lot 2370) shows that the size was restruck in the 20th c. for a collector. There is one in the Heye Foundation attached to some lovely beadwork. The heavy weight and unusual thickness of this piece are suggestive of a different batch of planchets and thus a different time of striking than the two First Size medals to come next. The cataloguer knows of no other heavyweights like this. In the absence of others it would be unwise to think of this as a restrike.
Ex Wayte Raymond Estate.
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