While searching for information on the history of the Great Smoky Mountains Geocaching Club and the "Great Smoky Mtn GeoQuest Geocoin" I discovered the tracking code on the web listing of the event "GSMGC - Tennessee Geocoin Distribution Picnic" (GCQA0M).
A lot of information about this Geocoin (in German) can be found in the online project "Little stories from the first Geocoin years".
Here is an online translation of the German text for this coin:
"In 2005, geocachers in many states of the USA started to think about designing their own geocoins for their own state.
In Tennessee it was the cacher AB4N, active since August 2003, who presented the new "Tennessee state geocoin" in the geocaching forum on 23 July 2005 and announced its sale. It was produced by the US company KVCoins (currently: challengecoinexperts.com).
900 coins were minted in antique silver, 300 in shiny silver (nickel) and 200 in shiny gold.
From 24 September onwards, the ordered Geocoins gradually arrived at their new owners.
The 40 x 4 mm Tennessee Geocoin with a rope braid edge bears its name, bordered by the three stars of the state flag, in the red outer ring.
The dark blue filled map of the state is surrounded by 4 typical 3D images. A riverboat, for example, represents the Mississippi region.
A well-known landmark of Nashville, the state capital, is the Parthenon.
The Great Smokey Mountains National Park with its black bears is representative of the eastern region of the state, in addition to several notable national forests.
Although the song is not often heard on the radio these days, the people of the southeastern region know and associate the railway with the song Chattanooga Choo-Choo.
The surface of the front is protected by a full epoxy coating.
The back, which has no colours, bears the Groundspeak symbol surrounded by stars, the tracking code and track information.
Many thanks to Cryptid, who gave us one of the oldest state geocoins with a lot of history for the presentation in the Coin Stories."
Kind regards from Germany from Compubaer