2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round Overview

The 2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round is a one troy ounce .999 fine silver round issued in the name of the Soto Nation, a self-described sovereign Anishinabe nation based in Saskatchewan, Canada, and struck to the American Open Currency Standard of Frisco, Texas. It carries the words “AOCS APPROVED” on its reverse, which places it in the same program as the 2009 Free Lakota Bank Proof-Like Silver Round, and it was announced as the Soto Nation’s first voluntary trade medallion.

The Anishinabe, also spelled Anishinaabe, are a family of related Algonquian-speaking peoples of the Great Lakes region and the Canadian prairies, among them the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Saulteaux. The Soto Nation presents itself as the spiritual leadership of those nations and speaks through Chief Kaneekaneet, who issued the round’s announcement from Saskatchewan. The group styles itself a sovereign body united with what it calls the United Nations of Turtle Island; those titles are the issuer’s own, and this entry reports them as its self-description rather than as recognized governmental status. In its announcement, the Soto Nation framed the round as a way to trade on honest value among merchants who already barter with medallions, and it pointed to the Lakota Nation’s independent currency, the program this site documents under Free Lakota Bank, as a parallel effort.

The obverse is built around the story that gives the round its name. “Turtle Island” is the name many Indigenous peoples, the Anishinabe among them, use for North America, drawn from creation accounts in which the land is rebuilt after a great flood on the back of a turtle (Turtle Island, Wikipedia). The Soto announcement tells its own version, in which the turtle descends from the Great Spirit, Kichi Manitou, and carries the world on her back as a symbol of longevity. The coin shows the turtle in profile, her shell worked with geometric ornament and a rosette, beneath the arched legend “The Anishinabe Nations of The Great Turtle Island.” The mirrored proof-like field sets the frosted turtle in sharp relief.

The reverse turns from the origin of the land to its renewal. A stylized Thunderbird with outspread wings, drawn in an angular outline, fills the center under the arched legend “Soto Nations of The Anishinabe Nations.” Thunderbirds are powerful storm spirits across many Indigenous traditions of North America, and the Soto Nation calls its Thunderbird “Peeashe” and describes it as a symbol of rebirth. Below the bird, a ribbon panel carries the denomination “FIFTY,” followed by “ONE OUNCE .999 FINE SILVER” and the line “AOCS APPROVED · © 2010.” The “FIFTY” follows the AOCS silver scale of fifty units per troy ounce, the same denomination found on the 2009 AOCS rounds. It is a unit of voluntary trade under that program, not a legal-tender claim.

The Soto Nation described the round as the first in a planned series recognizing the many nations of the Anishinabe. No later issue in that series has been located, which leaves this piece as the one documented Soto Nation round.

2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round Attribution

The round is dated by the copyright line on its reverse, “AOCS APPROVED · © 2010,” and by the Soto Nation’s own announcement, which carries a statement dated March 17, 2010 and a cover release dated April 21, 2010. Both point to a 2010 issue, so the year is not an attribution from absence; it rests on a struck date and an issuer document that agree.

Issuer is the Soto Nation, established by the struck reverse legend “Soto Nations of The Anishinabe Nations” and by the announcement itself. The AOCS attribution rests on the struck “AOCS APPROVED” legend, which is the standard’s own mark, and is corroborated by the Soto announcement, which says the round “was minted through official commission by The American Open Currency Standard.” The AOCS directory of approved currencies also lists the Soto Nation of Turtle Island with its website. No mark on either face identifies the physical manufacturer, so the round is recorded under AOCS Mint (Frisco, TX), consistent with the site’s standard for AOCS-program rounds. The Soto Nation sold the round itself, with an order form and volume pricing in its release, which supports recording it as distributor.

2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round Notes

• The turtle side is the obverse and the Thunderbird side is the reverse, which agrees with the issuer’s own description of the piece. The reverse carries the denomination, fineness, and AOCS Approved line.
• The issuer’s announcement describes the round as 39 mm, proof-like, and priced at $30 each with volume pricing down to $25 at 100 or more. Diameter on this entry comes from the physical example, not the announcement.
• Mulligan Mint’s Factory Store silver page, as captured in August 2013, lists “The Anishinabe PL – 1oz Silver Round” with description text beginning “2010 Silver 1oz Proof-Like The Anishinabe ‘Soto Na…”. The listing is read here as this round. It shows the round still on sale in 2013 and says nothing about who struck it.
• Designer is not documented in the announcement or the listings located.
• Mintage is not documented.
• No struck AOCS $ logo appears on either face; the AOCS attribution rests on the legend.

2010 Soto Nation of Turtle Island Proof-Like Silver Round References

• Soto Nation press release, “The Soto Nation Releases First Silver Barter Medallion” (cover release dated April 21, 2010, with the original statement dated March 17, 2010) — [add URL]
• Archived AOCS approved-currencies directory, “Soto Nation of Turtle Island” listing (sotonations.com) — [add Wayback URL and capture date]
• Archived Mulligan Mint Factory Store, silver page (Wayback Machine, Aug. 2013), “The Anishinabe PL – 1oz Silver Round” — [add URL]
• Turtle Island (North America), Wikipedia
• Free Lakota Bank (Pine Ridge, SD), The Texas Stacker
• AOCS Mint (Frisco, TX), The Texas Stacker
• American Open Currency Standard – AOCS, The Texas Stacker
• Documented example examined (this entry)
• Texas Stacker Archives