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ANOTHER UTE INDIAN NUMISMATIC ITEM
In recent issues we discussed a medal belonging to an Ute Indian Chief.
Alan V. Weinberg forwarded these images of another medal relating to Ute Indians.
His commentary is below.
Wow! What a great item.
-Editor
The images are of a ground -down 1866 Fenian Raid Canadian silver military award masterfully re-engraved by hand and awarded to a mixed-blood Indian Scout by Act of Congress in 1883 for saving the lives of two captives of the Ute Indians who ruled the plains of Colorado and Utah. Apparently, as I understand it, officially struck US lifesaving award medals were not awarded, even by Congress, to mixed blood Indian scouts, only to pure Caucasian scouts. It is 18 gr and 36 mm diameter rim to rim, exclusive of the swivel hanger. There is at least one other Congressionally-awarded "unofficial" lifesaving medal awarded to another Indian scout for rescuing "two white children" from Ute Indians. The Ute Indians apparently specialized in capturing and retaining alive , possibly for barter, white captives. I pursued this medal for 20 years, finally acquiring it a few months ago at a small local Southern California historical bottle show- and not for a nominal sum either ! These images were taken at the recent Whitman Baltimore show by master coin photographer Tom Mulvaney.
Wow! What a great item. I've never seen anything like it before.
-Editor
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON THE ANS' UTE CHIEF'S LIFE-SAVING LINCOLN PEACE MEDAL
(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n25a08.html)
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