GREAT BRITAIN, GEORGE III (1760-1820), INDIAN PEACE MEDAL, UNDATED

Silver. Large size. GEORGIUS III – DEI GRATIA, armored bust of George III right, a single row of curls above his ear, six rivets above sash, one below (obverse 2), rev. HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE – DIEU · ET · MON · DROIT, royal arms, lion’s paw on N (reverse A), of solid construction, 77.9 mm (Adams 7.2, no. 75, this piece), pierced for suspension with enlarged hole, obverse die break, with scattered surface marks, coppery- grey toning, very good

F.C.C. Boyd Collection; John J. Ford, Jr. Collection, part XVI, Stack’s, October 17, 2006, lot 65

Official requests for medals to be given to Indian chiefs are known from the early days of George III’s reign, but, as argued by John Adams, there is no evidence of presentation of the undated or ‘standard’ peace medals during the first sixteen years of George III’s reign. The first record of their issuance being made on June 5, 1776, by a lieutenant in one of the German regiments who described them as “big silver medallions upon which the likeness of the king was stamped.” Once produced, however, they “enjoyed a long life,” with surplus medals being presented as late as the 1830s.