½ Dollar

Los Coyotes is one of the most remote reservations in California — a 25,000-acre tract in the mountains northeast of San Diego with a population rarely exceeding 50 enrolled members. Tribal nations gained broad authority to issue their own coinage and currency under federal recognition, though these pieces circulate, if at all, only within reservation boundaries and largely reach the public through the collector market.

The copper-nickel composition mirrors U.S. clad coinage practice, a deliberate choice that keeps production costs in line with face value on small-mintage tribal issues.