United States, Abraham Lincoln, (1861-1865), Indian Peace Medal, 1862

Silver. Large size. Salthiel Ellis, obverse; Joseph Willson, reverse. ABRAHAM LINCOLN PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1862, draped bust of Lincoln right; beneath truncation, S. ELLIS.DEL.SC., on truncation, PATENTED. rev., central vignette of Indian plowing field to left; in middle distance, children playing ball; in far distance house and church; around outer border, two Indians, one scalping the other; below, quiver, bow and peace pipe flanking head of Indian maiden, 75.9 mm (Julian IP-38; Prucha 51; Belden 53), pierced for suspension, field mark behind head, otherwise good extremely fine with reflective surfaces and grey toning

Jon Hanson, January 5, 1977; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, part XVI, Stack’s, October 17, 2006, lot 159

Ellis did not start work on the medals until he was sure the funds due him had been appropriated. The dies for the obverse were completed during the summer, and the first delivery was in September. The reverse type is reused from Buchannan’s medals, but with small design changes, and Willson’s name has been removed.