United States
1789
Sterling silver
Height 4¼ in. (10.8 cm); Width 3⅛ in. (7.9 cm)
Provenance: John Kastner, Denver, Colorado
Peace medals were presented by the United States government to Native American leaders as diplomatic gifts, signifying alliance and recognizing political authority, a practice inherited from European colonial powers and continued through the nineteenth century. This sterling silver example dates to 1789, the year of Washington's inauguration, and belongs to the earliest category of American presidential peace medals. The obverse depicts George Washington as President with an Indian releasing a tomahawk from his right hand and holding a peace pipe in his left, with a soldier at his left side reaching for the pipe, above the date 1789.
The oval format and the specific iconographic program combine the figures of Washington, the Native leader, and the soldier in a scene of diplomatic exchange characteristic of the Washington-era peace medal tradition. The John Kastner provenance from Denver connects the piece to Colorado collecting of American historical material, and Washington peace medals in sterling silver with intact suspension loop and legible relief are seldom encountered outside major institutional collections.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
United States
1789
Sterling silver
Height 4¼ in. (10.8 cm); Width 3⅛ in. (7.9 cm)
Provenance: John Kastner, Denver, Colorado
Peace medals were presented by the United States government to Native American leaders as diplomatic gifts, signifying alliance and recognizing political authority, a practice inherited from European colonial powers and continued through the nineteenth century. This sterling silver example dates to 1789, the year of Washington's inauguration, and belongs to the earliest category of American presidential peace medals. The obverse depicts George Washington as President with an Indian releasing a tomahawk from his right hand and holding a peace pipe in his left, with a soldier at his left side reaching for the pipe, above the date 1789.
The oval format and the specific iconographic program combine the figures of Washington, the Native leader, and the soldier in a scene of diplomatic exchange characteristic of the Washington-era peace medal tradition. The John Kastner provenance from Denver connects the piece to Colorado collecting of American historical material, and Washington peace medals in sterling silver with intact suspension loop and legible relief are seldom encountered outside major institutional collections.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
