When were Indian Peace medals first given to local American chiefs?
Indians and Europeans began a gift exchange tradition almost as soon as they met. The initial gifts were beaver and other pelts, wampum, peace pipes and tomahawks. Indians in Massachusetts were wearing copper chains, collars and earrings made in Europe by 1602. Some of the earliest medals relating to the American colonies are those dating from 1632 issued for Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. In 1661, a decree in Virginia required “badges, silver plates and copper plates, with the names of the town graven upon them,
