San Francisco Committee of Vigilance Medals

A Newman Portal user this week forwarded photos of what appears to be a hand-engraved, numbered 1851 medal from the San Francisco Committee of Vigilance. Composition analysis indicates the piece is sterling silver. A check of the Newman Portal for “Committee of Vigilance” yields a few clues. Vigilante associations were common in the 19th century, and were formed in San Francisco in 1851 and again in 1856. The 1856 committee is well-documented, and the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA holds 2,500 applications for the group. This committee struck a member’s medal, and the Ford XX catalog (lots 3283-3285) includes a 13-page article on the topic. These committees were no mere ceremony.  The June 1933 Numismatist summarized the activities of the earlier 1851 committee – 4 hanged, 1 whipped, 14 deported, 1 ordered to leave the state, 1 handed over to the authorities, and 41 discharged. The three examples of the 1856 medals in the Ford sale sold at the $25k-$30k level. Is this hand-engraved 1851 piece an early, crude, prototype for the later struck medals? We checked with a California expert on 19th century American medals, who believes the piece to be an outright fantasy. Link to Ford XX sale (Stack’s, 10/2007) on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=515272&page=211