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Lr. 1192 — Indian Peace Medal. Undated. Silver.

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1,500.00 CAD Estimated At:5,000.00 - 5,500.00 CAD
Lr. 1192 — Indian Peace Medal. Undated. Silver.
SOLD
4,300.00CAD+ (860.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2022 Apr 28 @ 19:47UTC-4 : AST/EDT

Buyer’s Premiums will be added on all items as per the Terms & Conditions of the sale. Invoices will be emailed out after all sessions of the Toronto Coin Expo Spring Sale have concluded.

McLachlan-478, Jamieson-36. 51.4mm. 76.1g. Plain edge. Signed J.S. & A.B. WYON. Original clasp and hanger at 12 o’clock. This medal has long been collected as part of the Canadian Indian peace medal series. McLachlan wrote in 1886 that they were “given to the minor chiefs during the same [numbered] treaties as the last.” Later, Victor Morin (1915) and Melville Allan Jamieson (1936) claimed they were distributed as the original Treaty 1 and Treaty 2 medals before being replaced by the Hendry electrotypes and Numbered Treaty medals. McLachlan, Morin, and Jamieson were mistaken in attributing these medals to the Numbered Treaty series. However, there is no doubt they were ordered for distribution to Indigenous peoples and should be considered part of the Canadian Indian peace medal series. Warren Baker explains in an October 2004 MCA Advisory article:

“Fifty of these small medals were ordered from Wyon of which thirty were intended for the Indians of Manitoba. Another twenty medals were sent to British Columbia, two of which were sold to Ministers of the Crown according to a Memorandum from Duncan Campbell Scott of the Department of Indian Affairs sent to L.A. Renaud on May 10th 1930. Of the eighteen medals for British Columbia, six were retuned to the Department of Indian Affairs on the closing of the Indian Commissioner’s Office at Victoria.”

Baker also reports that “At least one … is recorded as having been presented as a bravery award” to Ma-Ha-Clow, Chief of the Hesquilits, in 1874.
This unnamed example features surface roughness consistent with the example we offered as part of our Fall 2017 Toronto Coin Expo auction, which realized $5,040. That example showed more wear than this one, had an illegible inscription on the reverse, and came with a red ribbon. Stone-grey surfaces exhibit deeper toning around the devices. Whitish residue occurs within the hidden areas of the wreath. Small marks and pinscratches on each side. Accompanied by a purple clamshell case with the interior marked H.W. TISDALL / MANUFACTURING JEWELER / 150 YONGE ST. / TORONTO. May or may not be original to the piece.
Ex: Purchased from Warren Baker (8/1982) for $2,250; Donald G. Partrick Collection.
From the Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals.