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.
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 Cherokee 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.
Back in the 1980's Chief Wilma Mankiller commissioned a Navajo artist to re do the symbol used as the official seal, on letterheads and the (CNO) flag. just about anywhere you see anything of the CNO you will see their seal.
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.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.
Before all the legal action by the CNO a significant number of these coins were sold to different individual Cherokee People at $40.00 each, possibly more, one for each family member, as many as twenty per individual to help in the cause of the Cherokee People, and evidently some were bought speculatively for I have seen singles of them on e-Bay's auction at least three times over the past few years going for $55.00, so I put one of mine on there, right off it sold for $55.00, since then I saw another just a couple of weeks ago, that was up to $78.00 it was put on at $55.00 did not watch to see what it went for.
As the owner of Cornsilks Indian Crafts, now closed, I was contacted by some individuals to sell their coins for them, since this is Cheroke Craft of the highest quality, I agreed to, since I had done this for other crafts.
I had access to three lots, a few coins each, was/are for sale, and today 7/30/07 there are a few left, the price is $55.00 each shipping included. when these are gone, I have access to one lot of twenty, the price for those will be $70.00 shipping included. So folks, want a Cherokee Coin? You can have one or all that are left at the price of $55.00 Click to Buy Coin and add to paypal secure Check out, if you want more than one, click again to add another!
