Medal (Peace medal)

Description

This silver medal is of the smallest of the three sizes produced by the United States Mint for President Jefferson’s 1804 delegation captained by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to traverse North America to the Pacific Ocean. One side bears a profile portrait of Thomas Jefferson and the opposite side features two clasped male hands clasped in peace and friendship beneath the crossed stems of a tobacco pipe and an axe or tomahawk. These medals were produced to be offered to Native American tribal leaders as official messages and negotiations were conveyed by Jefferson’s delegation. This example lost its original mount on the top, but was drilled so it could continue to be suspended or attached as an adornment.