Silver

Round medal or gorget with 2 bosses with loops for attachment on the back; hammered not cast; raised edge not turned under, with sharp edge; engraved design.

"GR" at top, in centre; a circle encompassing four standards, British Royal Coat of Arms: text "HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE" and, "DIEU AND MON DROIT" on ribbon, lion and unicorn. Above Coat of Arms are letters "GR". Below Coat of Arms is "CHIEF TECUMSETH".

Reverse side includes illegible maker's mark (POC?); and Silversmith hallmarks: "h", "rampart lion", and "crowned leopard".

"GR" engraving reference to King George III royal cypher - "Georgius Rex" ("GR"); Silversmith hallmarks: "h" represents year (possibly 1783?), "rampart lion" indicates silver standard, "crowned leopard" represents city mark for London, England.

Tecumseh and Brock were allies during the War of 1812. They met for the first and possibly only time in Amherstburg in August 1812. Brock was killed at Queenston Heights in October. -AE

F. Barlow Cumberland, Catalogue and Notes of the Oronhyatekha Historical Collection (Toronto: Independent Order of Foresters, 1904), p 54,

Item 357. "Tecumseh Belt Medal. This belt medal, four inches in diameter, is made of a plate of coin silver bearing the Royal Mint mark, deeply moulded at the edges and the surface hand engraved. Obverse- Arms of Great Britain. Reverse- Plain, with two loops for fastening to the belt ot Council wampum. Six of these medals were made by royal order at the mint. The one in question was presented to Tecumseh by general Sir Isaac Brock, at Fort Malden, Western Canada, by order of George III. These belt medals were made in different shapes, some the shape of a heart and some octagonal. During a visit to the Garden River Reserve in Algoma District, Western Canada, Mr. MrClurg reports one of these belt medals in the shape of a heart. It had been presented to Chief Sayers, an old Indian who took part in the War of 1812-15..."

Unknown artist, Tecumseh medal. Currently in the Royal Ontario Museum, 911.3.182. Item photographed and described as part of a GRASAC research trip December 2008; GRASAC item id 1374.