#1 • Alaska Centennial Cook Inlet Native Association Medallion

Part of August 2026 Coins & Currency Auction (timed auction by Alaska Premier Auctions & Appraisals)

High bid $10.00

Status: Sold

Category: Coins & Currency

A 1867-1967 Alaska Centennial Cook Inlet Native Association medallion, depicting both the Alaska and United States flags on a mountainside with a moose and dog sled team; additional Arctic wildlife grace the bottom below the dog sled on the obverse. The reverse prominently displays an Athabascan traditional symbol representing the crossroads of life. It also indicates the medal was produced by the Cook Inlet Native Association (founded in 1964), in honor of Nick Gray. Nick Gray (1900–1966) was a pioneering Alaska Native civil rights leader and organizer who laid the groundwork for statewide Indigenous unity ahead of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). He is remembered as a visionary whose primary goal was bringing together divided regional groups into one formidable political voice. In 1964, Gray moved down to Anchorage and successfully co-founded the Cook Inlet Native Association (CINA). Early regional organizing meetings were often held in the solarium of the local Alaska Native hospital. Gravely ill with leukemia, Gray left his hospital bed on October 19, 1966, to attend the historic first statewide gathering of Alaska Native leaders in Anchorage. He delivered a powerful speech, calling on all present to set aside tribal and regional divisions to demand their ancestral land rights. Nick Gray passed away just weeks after that meeting. Though he did not live to see it, the meeting he catalyzed led directly to the creation of the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) and ultimately the passage of ANCSA. The medallion was minted shortly after his death to honor his legacy as a founder of CINA and to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the Alaska Purchase.