1809 James Madison Indian Peace Medal. Silver. Second Size. Julian IP-6, Prucha-40. Very Good.

62.9 mm. 1576.6 grains. A remarkable new discovery of this scarce medal, found in northern California in the summer of 2023, and undoubtedly lost there by the original recipient or a descendant thereof who had migrated well beyond the borders of the United States at the time such medals were issued. Indeed, the medal itself speaks to a long and rugged history. It was clearly deeply patinated and unfortunately harshly cleaned in recent times, but the numerous dents, nicks and gentle bends in the flan suggest a colorful indigenous history. This said, upon close study, the detail is rather good for this issue. The legends exhibit the usually seen softness, but the definition otherwise equals medals of higher grade. It is believed that just over 100 medals were struck of this size, but the vast majority of that mintage are lost. This was among the latter until just recently, and is the 19th specimen known to the writer. Six of the known survivors are in institutional collections, and the others are not commonly offered. We offered one in 2020 and another in 2021, but prior to those appearances it had been more than a decade since an original in silver appeared in one of our sales. An important and immensely historic find.

Discovered in northern California, August 2023.