Detailed Description
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Related Items: |
Indian treaty medal, Treaties 1 and 2, 1871 |
Indian
treaty medal, Treaties 3 to 8, 1873-1900 |
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Indian treaty replacement
medal
1872, by Robert Hendry
Since the medal used in Treaties 1 and 2 was considered
too small and the design inappropriate, a substitute
medal was commissioned by the federal government in
1872 from silversmith Robert Hendry of Montreal. The
design for the new medal was adapted from the Confederation
medal of 1867, to which Hendry added an outer 11 millimetre
ring. The medal bears the likeness of Queen Victoria.
The inscription that was soldered to the outer ring
reads "DOMINION OF CANADA CHIEFS MEDAL 1872."
Four allegorical figures - to represent lumbering,
mining, fishing, and farming - are stamped on the reverse
side with a seated Britannia. The outer inscription
on the reverse side reads "INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST
TERRITORIES." Despite the impressive size of this
Canadian-made medal - it measured 95 millimetre in diameter
and 10 millimetre in thickness - the silver plating peeled off
too easily so an alternative had to be found.
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