About the Piece
人中吕布，马中赤兔 — “Among men, Lü Bu; among horses, Red Hare.” Long before Romance of the Three Kingdoms turned them into legend, Lü Bu and his horse were already paired in the historical record. Lü Bu was renowned for his strength, archery and horsemanship, earning the name “Flying General”; Red Hare was the exceptional warhorse associated with him. The saying survived because the two had already become shorthand for the finest warrior and horse of their age.
Centuries later, Romance of the Three Kingdoms pushed that image into legend. Lü Bu rides Red Hare into battle with the Fangtian Huaji, confronts Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei together, and becomes the novel’s ultimate expression of martial power. Red Hare grows with him, transformed into a horse capable of extraordinary speed and feats beyond an ordinary animal. History created the pairing. Literature made it epic.
Spectres gives that image physical scale. Developed in-house over several months, Lü Bu and the Red Hare is a fully three-dimensional composition of warrior and horse cast in three kilograms of .999 silver. At 27 cm tall, the work extends through the raised halberd, layered armour, Red Hare’s body and mane, the sweeping cape and battlefield beneath them. Each statue requires several hundred hours of skilled handwork to produce. It is the largest and most technically demanding sculptural work Spectres has produced.
Only eight exist. Every statue is individually handcrafted and engraved with its own serial number, while the base carries the inscription 人中吕布，马中赤兔 and the Public Seal of Niue. The statue is officially issued as legal tender with a denomination of 100 Dollars. A three-kilogram freestanding silver statue, produced in an edition of eight, is about as far from the conventional idea of a coin as Spectres has gone. It is also the clearest answer yet to the question behind the mint: what else can precious metal be?
Specifications
What’s Included
- Individually numbered Spectres piece
- Matching numbered Certificate of Authenticity with product specifications
- Custom-designed Spectres presentation box
Every Spectres piece carries the Ghost mint mark.
How is this a coin?
- A coin is defined by its official issuance, not by its physical shape. This piece is formally issued as legal tender by a sovereign issuing authority, with an official denomination and year of issue.
- Money and coinage have also taken unconventional forms throughout history, including ancient Chinese knife- and spade-shaped money. Spectres continues that idea in modern legal tender, where a coin may be round, shaped, functional, sculptural or fully three-dimensional.
