About the Piece
Psusennes I was the third king of Egypt’s 21st Dynasty, ruling from Tanis during the Third Intermediate Period more than 3,000 years ago. His royal burial, uncovered by French Egyptologist Pierre Montet in 1940, contained an extraordinary innermost coffin made of silver. The metal was scarce in ancient Egypt, much of it imported, and was associated with the moon, ritual purity and the bones of the gods.
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Spectres recreates that coffin as a fully three-dimensional piece, drawing directly from the surviving original. The mummiform silhouette, royal face, crossed crook and flail, long feather decoration, hieroglyphs and cartouches are carried across the body rather than confined to a single decorated surface.
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Here, the choice of material is unusually direct: the source object itself was silver. Antiquing gives definition to the sculpted and engraved surfaces, while selective gold gilding on the uraeus and head band follows the original coffin’s own use of a gold uraeus and gold forehead band. The mintage carries the history into the edition itself: 213 pieces — 21 for the 21st Dynasty and 3 for Psusennes I as its third king.
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.
