Part of their Summer Launch in 2025, a new series called ‘Enemies in History’ debuted with a coin featuring the conflict between the Roman leader, Julius Caesar, and the man that helped bring him down, Marcus Junius Brutus. It set the layout for the series moving forward, with back-to-back busts of the protagonists on the reverse face, and a scene from their shared history on the obverse.

The second coin continues with another great historical clash, a particularly apt one for the 250th anniversary of the United States, centred around the Battle of the Little Big Horn, which took place in 1876, a century after the creation of the fledgling nation. The Battle took place as part of the colonists campaign to expand westwards, infringing heavily on lands traditionally controlled by the various Native American tribes. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota, ironically attributed to George Armstrong Custer, gave added impetus to the campaign, and Custer’s 7th Cavalry set out to corral the remaining Plains Indians onto reservations.

With a force numbering around 700, Custer ran into a much larger combined force of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes. The leader, Sitting Bull, had claimed a vision in which many soldiers fell to the Lakota. He was right. The battle was a definitive victory for the natives, who routed the soldiers, killing Custer and over 250 of his men. Victory was short-lived, and within a year the native forces had been defeated, and the land taken. Sitting Bull was killed during a botched arrest in 1890.

The coin features two quite impeccable depictions of Custer and Sitting Bull, set back-to-back and divided by an arrow. A pattern of geometric lines forms seven points on the rim, representing the 7th Cavalry. A similar concept was employed on the Caesar: Brutus coin. The obverse, also in high-relief, depicts a scene from the painting ‘The Duel, Tomahawk and Sabre’ by Charles Schreyvogel, an American artist whose art centred around the last days of frontier life.

A really outstanding coin, struck in two ounces of silver, and subtley coloured, it somehow manages to encapsulate this now iconic battle on its two sides, very effectively. This kind of design is right in CIT’s wheelhouse, and they’re at the top of their game. Available to pre-order now.