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

Currency:CAD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:5,000.00 CAD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 CAD
Lr. 1192 — Indian Peace Medal. Undated. Silver.
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[?]Live Online Auction Starts In 2024 Oct 04 @ 17:30 (UTC-4 : AST/EDT)

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McLachlan-478, Jamieson-36. 51.5mm. 80.4g (with ribbon). 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 returned 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.
Jamieson-36 rarely comes to market. We are aware of an example in the 1970 Sotheby's sale in Montreal, lot 219, which brought $460, a princely sum for the period that day. Another was sold as lot 136 in the Michael Joffre Collection of Canadian Historical Medals, realizing $5,160. We last offered this piece as part of our Fall 2017 Toronto Coin Expo auction, where realized $5,040. It displays moderate evidence of wear and handling, consistent with an awarded peace medal. Battleship-grey surfaces feature an illegible inscription on the reverse, which may very well be the name of the original recipient. An important rarity worthy of a strong bid.
Ex: Toronto Coin Expo Fall Sale (Geoffrey Bell Auctions, 9/17), lot 1223.
This is part of the Geoffrey Bell Collection.