(1881) Bronze Medal J-IP-44, James A. Garfield

Coin Details

Auction Record

$9,000 MS67BN 11-18-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

The circa 1881 bronze Indian Peace Medal cataloged as Julian IP-44 bears the portrait of President James A. Garfield, who served only 200 days before his assassination on September 19, 1881. Garfield's extremely brief presidency makes his peace medal one of the scarcest in the series in terms of original diplomatic distribution, as few treaty councils or diplomatic occasions occurred during his abbreviated term. The obverse features a right-facing bust of Garfield with the inscription JAMES A. GARFIELD PRESIDENT OF THE U.S. A.D. 1881. The reverse carries the peace medal design. This bronze duplicate was produced at the Philadelphia Mint for collector distribution. Garfield's assassination by Charles Guiteau at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station in Washington was the second presidential assassination in American history, following Lincoln's in 1865. Despite the brevity of his presidency, peace medal dies were prepared as a matter of routine for each new administration, and bronze duplicates were struck for sale to collectors and deposit in institutional collections. The historical circumstances of Garfield's truncated presidency make his peace medals objects of particular interest to collectors of both the Indian Peace Medal series and presidential memorabilia.

Rarity Notes

Bronze duplicates exist in limited quantities. Garfield's 200-day presidency severely limited original diplomatic distribution, making all formats of his peace medal relatively scarce.

Cross References

Julian IP-44; PCGS #626619