Indian Peace Medal - Post-1882 James A. Garfield, J-IP-44 AE Oval NGC MS65

Attractive bronze restrike of James A. Garfield Indian Peace Medal from post 1882. There is 1 in MS65BN with 2 finer. Below is the story of the creation of the original IPMs of post-1882.

The production of James Garfield medals was initiated by the request of Indian agents for medals to give to chiefs and warriors. The old practice of the Indian Office ordering a set number of medals to distribute was now over. The new way was to order them directly from the Mint as they were needed. E.M. Marble, acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote on March 31, 1881, requesting that the Secretary of the Interior acquire medals for presentation to Yankton chief Strike-the-Ree, twelve of his warriors, and five Indians of the Cheyenne River Agency.  The medals had been promised the previous year when Hayes was still president.  Marble agreed to reimburse the Mint for the purchase price of the silver used to produce the medals. The Mint said that the engraver was busy working on the dies, and that medals would be struck as soon as the dies were ready.

Chief Strike-the-Ree. E.M. Marble, acting Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote on March 31, 1881, requesting that the Secretary of the Interior acquire medals for presentation to Yankton chief Strike-the-Ree, twelve of his warriors, and five Indians of the Cheyenne River Agency.  Photo: Wikipedia.

However, it took a very long time for the medals to be minted at the Mint. It was on October 12, 1881, that Yankton Agent W.D.E. Andrus wrote to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs complaining that Strike-the-Ree was becoming quite impatient waiting for the medals. Thus the Commissioner strongly urged that 25 Garfield medals be made available "as early a day as practicable." The Mint Superintendent reported at the end of October that the Mint was making an effort to have dies for Indian medals finished "at the earliest possible moment."

The portrait of Garfield on the medal was the work of Charles E. Barber, who had become Chief Engraver of the Mint in 1880. The same bust was employed on the round Garfield inaugural medal. The reverse design crafted by George T. Morgan for the Hayes medal was once again used, but the date was omitted and a new dies was created. The date of completion of the medals is not known, but on January 11, 1882, the Chief Coiner at the Mint wrote about the production of the medals in his account books at a cost of $146.50 for 35 silver medals. However, there were even more delays, and the Yankton Indians did not get their medals for a while, because it took until March 20 for them to arrive at the Indian Office. Those Garfield medals were presented well after the death of the president, who was shot on July 2, 1881, and died on September 19 of that year. Garfield medals continued to be presented long after his assassination.