Former ANA President and numismatic legal scholar David Ganz has written that Article X in the original Indian treaty signed June 7 and 9, 1869 "provides that the Shawnee shall have the 'right to sell merchandise or manufacture products without restraint,' of which coins, tokens, medals and paper money are evidently encompassed." Mel Wacks, Public Relations Director of PandaAmerica, indicates that "These historic gold coins are the first issues in a brand new category of North American coins, similar to highly sought after Territorial Gold."

Only 5,000 Five Dollar face value gold coins are being struck by the Perth Mint, containing 1/5 oz. of pure (999 fine) gold. Each coin comes in a gift pouch with a certificate of authenticity signed by Ron Sparkman, Tribal Chairman of the Sovereign Nation of the Shawnee Tribe. They are available at the official issue price of $175 from PandaAmerica, 3460 Torrance Blvd., Suite 100, Torrance, CA 90503; telephone (800) 472-6327; e-mail info@pandaamerica.com. Click here to shop online.

The Prophet and his brother Techumseh were among the best-known and most feared Indians of the nineteenth century. They were Shawnee leaders of a fervent movement to instill Indian unity in the Ohio Valley from 1805 through the War of 1812. Angered by the Jefferson administration's attempts to gain Indian lands through piecemeal cessions, the Prophet preached resistance. He also rejected Jeffersonian suggestions about Indian assimilation, and urged instead that Indians retain their own culture. By 1811 his resistance movement had led to sporadic warfare in the Old Northwest. But in November of that year, William Henry Harrison routed the Prophet and his allies near Tippecanoe in the Indiana Territory … which was the inspiration for Harrison's presidential campaign slogan "Tippecanoe and Tyler too."