The Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe, federally recognized in 2000 after a decades-long legal separation from the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, began issuing coinage almost immediately as an assertion of that newly formalized status. These tribal issues occupy an unusual legal space — produced under sovereign authority but not legal tender in any conventional commercial sense, they circulated primarily as collector pieces and diplomatic gifts rather than transactional currency.
KM#15 is one of the earlier issues in the series, struck in the years just following recognition.
The Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe, federally recognized in 2000 after a decades-long legal separation from the Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, began issuing coinage almost immediately as an assertion of that newly formalized status. These tribal issues occupy an unusual legal space — produced under sovereign authority but not legal tender in any conventional commercial sense, they circulated primarily as collector pieces and diplomatic gifts rather than transactional currency.
KM#15 is one of the earlier issues in the series, struck in the years just following recognition.