This pioneering study examines previously unpublished Ottoman and British archival documents to uncover an overlooked dimension of nineteenth-century Circassian political history. Focusing on the years immediately following the Crimean War (1856–1857), Yahya Khoon demonstrates that Circassian leaders pursued far more than military resistance against Russian expansion. They also sought to establish tangible symbols of statehood through ambitious plans to mint their own coins and produce official medals and decorations, revealing a sophisticated vision of sovereignty that has received little attention in existing scholarship.

Drawing upon interrogation records, diplomatic correspondence, customs reports, and previously unused archival materials, the article reconstructs clandestine networks linking Circassian leaders with Ottoman officials, European intermediaries, and foreign volunteers. Rather than treating these projects as isolated curiosities, the study interprets them as components of a broader proto-state initiative designed to project legitimacy, foster political unity, and communicate sovereign authority through material culture. By integrating these archival discoveries into the wider geopolitical context of the Caucasian War, Khoon significantly expands our understanding of Circassian political organization and international connections.

The article also makes an important theoretical contribution by situating the Circassian experience within broader debates on nationalism, imperialism, and symbolic sovereignty. Drawing on the conceptual frameworks of Benedict Anderson's "imagined communities" and Eric Hobsbawm's "invented traditions," Khoon argues that coins, medals, and insignia were not merely ceremonial objects but deliberate instruments of nation-building and political imagination. By highlighting these forgotten experiments in symbolic statecraft, the study establishes nineteenth-century Circassia as a significant case in the comparative history of nation-building and sovereignty, offering valuable insights for scholars of Caucasian history, imperial studies, and nationalism.