"It's not quite a "life-saving coin" but there's a medal with an interesting story. The ANS owns a silver Lincoln peace medal which was supposedly worn by a Ute chief when he was shot. Rather than seeing the medal as the reason for his survival, he saw it as being responsible for his being shot. The ANS has owned the medal since 1917, a gift from J. Sanford Saltus.

I discovered the E-Sylum story on the American Numismatic Society's Lincoln peace medal with the Indian/bullet and was stunned beyond belief. The reason is that I have been searching for this medal for over twenty years. It was part of a huge number of artifacts that belonged to a Denver businessman who wrote an account of his acquisition of the medal in the 1870s.

I have found a photo of chief Honko wearing the Lincoln medal. The right image was a photo owned by J.P. Lower of Honko, left standing image was recently found in a catalog marked unknown Indian, but it is clearly the same man. The standing photo shows Honko wearing the medal! He was known for his long, thick war braids. This photo must have been taken before his decision to sell the medal.