ZIRD is an abbreviation for Arizona Indian Round Dollar. "Z" is used in place of an A because the AIRD abbreviation is reserved for the Alaska Indian Round Dollar. Arizona is the only U.S. state whose name includes the letter 'z'.
Arizona Indian tokens are backdated 1849, and are double denominated as 1 and ONE. They were likely struck circa-1914.
On the obverse, an Indian head faces left. He is surrounded by 13 stars, the traditional number of stars on 19th century U.S. coins, representing the "original" 13 colonies.
The reverse depicts a wreath, similar to that seen on the U.S. gold dollar and countless California fractional gold die varieties.
The style of engraving on the Indian is very similar to the Indian Head Left designs on many Western souvenir gold varieties described on the present website, from the Alaska Indian Octagonal, Alaska Indian Round, California Indian Octagonal, California Indian Round, Idaho Indian, Montana Indian, Oregon Indian, and Washington Indian series. Presumably, the same engraver was responsible for "fine style" of the Indian Head Left on all of these types.
In the January 1999 article Zerbe's Panama-Pacific Gold Token Patterns written for the Brasher Bulletin, the journal for the Society of Private and Pioneer Numismatics, noted Western souvenir gold authority Jay Roe stated that the 1849 Arizona Indian One was a pattern "obviously considered as a potential State Gold piece. I have two of these and have never seen nor heard of another." It is a formidable and important rarity within the Western souvenir gold specialty.