THOSE OTHER COLLECTIBLE BULLION COINS What do you think of when you see the phrase "COLLECTIBLE BULLION COINS?" American (U.S.A.) silver, gold and platinum Eagles (1/10 to 1 oz.) Australian silver Lunars, gold Kangaroos, gold Nuggets, or platinum Kolas Austrian gold Philharmonics Canadian silver, gold, platinum and paladium Maple Leaf coins Chinese silver, gold and Platinum Pandas, gold Lunars, platinum and bimetallic (gold center in silver ring) Pagodas, Great Britain Brittanicas Mexican Onzas and Libertads Franklin Mint Pobjoy Mint What about Native American Silver coinage? Every $1 coin issued on the authority of The Shawnee and Poarch Creek Indian Nations are 1 ounce silver, plus each commemorates a person or event relevant to their tribal history. The Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe issued its first American Indian silver Dollar coin in 2002 picturing Chief "Shooting Star" Tecumseh Here's some relevant information about Tecumseh excerpted from The Coin Shop's website: "The seal on the reverse contains 12 small stars, representing the original 12 tribes of the Shawnee Indian Nation. On the night when Tecumseh was born, there was an incredible meteor shower. The elders in the tribe took this to be an omen, and pronounced that this baby would go on to be a great leader. Tecumseh believed that Indians must not sell their land. But in 1809, tribes in the Indiana Territory ceded much of their land to the United States. Tecumseh protested to Gov. William Henry Harrison but in vain. A few years later, the Chief joined the British against the Americans in the War of 1812. As a brigadier general, Tecumseh led 2,000 warriors in many battles, until he was killed at Chatham, Ontario." Here's a photo of that 2002 silver Dollar courtesy of Joel Anderson (joelscoins.com): Disclaimer: All links to coin photos are provided for you to view and are not my recommendation of the coin, its grade or price, the person or firm tendering the offer nor do I disapprove of same. http://www.joelscoins.com/images/shawneeb.jpg Another great event (important to the Shawnee and to America's ventures into the Northwest) was Lewis and Clark's explorations during Thomas Jefferson's Presidency. Another excxerpt from The Coin Shop website: "The purpose of the expedition, as specified by President Jefferson, was 'to explore the Missouri river & such principal stream(s) of it as by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any other river may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent for the purpose of commerce.' " The 2003 silver $1 commemorates the Lewis and Clark Exposition and the interpreter (other than Sacagawea) and hunter for the group. That person, George Drouillard, was the son of a Shawnee Indian mother who had mated with a French Canadian man. Take a good look at a photo of the 2003 silver Dollar courtesy of Panda America: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=2456&grp=1&categ=77 The Nation of the Shawnee Tribe issued a second silver Dollar honoring Lewis and Clark’s Expedition of Discovery. President Jefferson stands alongside one of the Chiefs, who is holding a peace pipe. Between is an American flag, a globe, an eagle and a shield. The designer’s name "A Shagin" (A for Alex) is inscribed in the field. The reverse features the Shawnee coat-of-arms (the only time the coat-of-arms was used on a coin) of the Shawnee Nation and the date 2004. A Panda America photo: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=4162&grp=1&categ=77 2005 saw yet another silver Dollar honoring the Lewis and Clark Exposition. The two men in the canoe are not Lewis and Clark, but are two other members of the group. Panda America photo: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5997&grp=1&categ=77 2006 ushered in a new look for the Shawnee Nation's silver Dollar. When you view this Panda America's photo notice the new font effect on the reverse text and the whole effect on the Shawnee Tribes seal on the obverse: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6826&grp=1&categ=77 Here's Panda America's photo of the 2007 $1 commemorating the Battle of the Wabash: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=8258&grp=1&categ=77 2008's Shawnee Nation's silver 1$ honors another battle; the Battle of Point Pleasant. (Panda America photo): http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=9847&grp=1&categ=77 The Battle of Fallen Timber graces the reverse of the 2009 silver 1$. Panda America photo: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=9863&grp=1&categ=77 What commemoration was assigned to the 2010 Shawnee Nation $1? The 2010 Silver Dollar issued by the Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe pays tribute to the thousands of Native American men, women and children who died during their removal from their native lands—via "The Trail of Tears"--and the aftermath. Each coin is 1 oz. of pure silver, designed by award-winning medalist Alex Shagin. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson wrote to the Cherokees: "My friends, circumstances render it impossible that you can flourish in the midst of a civilized community. You have but one remedy within your reach, and that is to remove to the west. And the sooner you do this, the sooner you will commence your career of improvement and prosperity." And in 1838, President Martin Van Buren ordered U.S. Army troops under the command of Gen. Winfield Scott to began rounding up the Cherokees and moving them into stockades in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. "Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, US Dept of Interior, National Park Service," published in 1992, reported that "In all some 90 thousand Indians were removed to the West, including the Delaware, the Ottawa, Shawnee, Pawnee and Potawatomi, the Sauk and Fox, Miami and Kickapoo, the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole. Some reluctantly agreed to move. Others were driven from their homes at bayonet point. Almost two thousand of them died along the route they remembered as the Trail of Tears … and mortality rates for the entire removal and its aftermath were substantial, totaling approximately 8,000." Private John G. Burnett, Captain Abraham McClellan's Company, 2nd Regiment, 2nd Brigade, Mounted Infantry, wrote: "I saw the helpless Cherokees arrested and dragged from their homes, and driven at the bayonet point into the stockades. And in the chill of a drizzling rain on an October morning I saw them loaded like cattle or sheep into six hundred and forty-five wagons and started toward the west....On the morning of November the 17th we encountered a terrific sleet and snow storm with freezing temperatures and from that day until we reached the end of the fateful journey on March the 26th 1839, the sufferings of the Cherokees were awful. The trail of the exiles was a trail of death. They had to sleep in the wagons and on the ground without fire. And I have known as many as twenty-two of them to die in one night of pneumonia due to ill treatment, cold and exposure ..." Here's the coin (Panda America photo): http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=10081&grp=1&categ=77 If your collecting forte is gold, don't despair, here's link's to photos of The Nation of Shawnee Tribes Gold pieces 2002 - 2010: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=1306&grp=1&categ=77 http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=2933&grp=1&categ=77 http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=4452&grp=1&categ=77 http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5999&grp=1&categ=77 No photo available: The fifth coin in the Shawnee gold coin series. Chief Tecumseh is pictured on the obverse. The coat of arms on the reverse contains 12 stars, representing the original 12 tribes of the Shawnee Indian Nation. No more than 5,000 made. http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=8257&grp=1&categ=77 http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=9865&grp=1&categ=77 No info or photo of the 2009: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=10082&grp=1&categ=77 To keep within the boundries of "trivia" I present the Nation of the Poarch Creek Indian Tribes Collectible Bullion Coins which they began issuing in 2004 (all photos courtesy of Panda America: 2004 "Peace" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5048&grp=1&categ=170 2004 "Peace" 1/5 oz Gold $5: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5052&grp=1&categ=170 The following two coins are dubbed "Sky Dancer" by some and "Pow Wow" by others: 2004 "Pow Wow" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=5240&grp=1&categ=170 2004 "Pow Wow" 1 oz. Gold $100: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6036&grp=1&categ=170 2005 "Chief Menawa Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6316&grp=1&categ=170 2005 "Tchow-ee-pu-o-kaw" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6454&grp=1&categ=170 2005 "Chief Hopthle Mico and President George Washington" Gold $5: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6315&grp=1&categ=170 2006 "Chief Steeh-tcha-ko-me-co" Gold $5: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6820&grp=1&categ=170 2006 "Chief Tomochichi" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6821&grp=1&categ=170 2006 "Pow Wow" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=6823&grp=1&categ=170 2007 "Chief Calvin McGhee" 1/5 oz. Gold $5: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=8253&grp=1&categ=170 2007 "Chief Opothle Yoholo Silver $1: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=8254&grp=1&categ=170 2007 "Pow Wow" Silver Dollar: http://www.pandaamerica.com/details.asp?item=8390&grp=1&categ=170 I couldn't find photos or info on 2008 -2010 coins of the Poarch Creek, but discovered one of the clans (tribes) of the Cherokee Nation authorized a coin (?Medal) in 2000 to commnemorate the 1839 Constitution of the Cherokee. The following excepts are from The website of the United Cherokee Nation. "The Cherokee Coin Called Adela, pronounced phonetically as ah-day-la which means money in the Cherokee language, since there is no word in Cherokee for dollar. This word is accepted to mean dollar in Cherokee, this could be said to be a Cherokee dollar in English." "The front of the Cherokee coin has a likeness of John Ross inside the seven pointed star, the greatest and longest seated Chief of the Cherokee Nation, he served from 1827 till his death in 1866 , the star represents the seven clans of the Cherokee People, the words written in the Cherokee syllabary between the points are the seven clans of the Cherokee." More about the coin: "The Coin. is stamped on the top edge above Ross's head 99.9% Silver, on the bottom edge is stamped the number of the coin in the sequence of the total minting, weighing one troy ounce, and is the exact same size as a U.S. Silver dollar. The apparent English D on the face of the coin is actually a character from the Cherokee syllabary and is the first character in the word Adela pronounced "ah", in the center of the character D is 1 signifying one Adela, the English numeral "1" was used because there is no single character representing one in the Cherokee language, the phonetic spelling and pronunciation of one is "sa-wu". Therefore a Cherokee speaker would say "sa-wu-ah-de-la" and would be understood to mean one dollar or one Adela if that be the conversation topic. The number 2000, is the year minted, the background behind Ross's head, signifies rising sun, the bird signifies rising phoenix. This is what a group of Cherokee call a project they are involved in, the reviving of the Cherokee Nation Government with in the bounds of the 1839 Constitution of the Cherokee. The bird is called in the Cherokee language the coowescoowee bird which means the great white bird, which was John Ross's Cherokee Name!! The Back of the coin has a likeness of the original 1839 Cherokee Nation Seal, which is different than the one the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma (CNO), The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee in Oklahoma (UKB), or the Eastern Band of Cherokee (EBC) of North Carolina uses." Just a little more the Cornsilk Website: The likeness of the Seal on this Coin which is also the official Seal of the United Cherokee Nation is correct, as our ancestors designed it, one single point of the 7 pointed star points upward, and is a very important part of Cherokee culture, it points to the "CREATOR" above, the two points pointing downward signifies the creator's way, it takes two of all, for the perpetuation of creation. The Coin has the correct Cherokee writing for Cherokee Nation, as close as can be spoken or written in Cherokee anyway, because there is no word for Nation. The garland image on the back of the coin is of oak leaves, which has a very significant meaning in the Cherokee culture, for life and strength. the CNO seal has Laurel leaves insignificant in Cherokee culture. This Cherokee coin was designed by a Cherokee, the presently seated Chief of the United Cherokee Nation, Robin Mayes, who is the great-great-grandson of Chief John Ross. A Corn Silks (Cherokee Indians) photo: http://www.cornsilks.com/adela.jpg Certainly hope you enjoyed this journey into America's Native American historical past... Clinker
