Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
5 Dollars M16
| Issuer | Mesa Grande Band (Native American tribes) |
|---|---|
| Year | 2010 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 5 Dollars |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Central device depicts a bald eagle with wings fully spread, facing forward and grasping a ribbon scroll bearing the motto E PLURIBUS UNUM in its talons, set against a mountainous landscape in high relief. A ring of evenly spaced five-pointed stars frames the inner field. The legend FIVE DOLLARS appears along the left rim, MESA GRANDE along the right rim, and AMERICA 2010 along the lower rim, all rendered in an elegant serif typeface against a polished mirror field. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | FIVE DOLLARS MESA GRANDE E PLURIBUS UNUM AMERICA 2010 |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Mesa Grande is a small Kumeyaay band in San Diego County whose federal recognition history was anything but smooth — the tribe was effectively landless for decades before a land purchase in the 1970s stabilized its status. Tribal gaming revenue, beginning in the 1990s, eventually funded ventures including limited sovereign coinage issues like this one.
These Native American tribal notes and coins occupy a genuinely ambiguous legal space: tribes hold sovereign authority to issue currency, but such pieces circulate almost nowhere and are produced primarily for the collector market by third-party mints under licensing arrangements.