About the Piece
In March 1909, Theodore Roosevelt had just left the White House and was preparing for a Smithsonian-backed expedition to Africa when his friend, New York Supreme Court Justice James W. Gerard, presented him with an extraordinary hunting knife intended for the journey. Gerard asked Roosevelt for a penny in return, following the old superstition that a gifted blade could cut a friendship. Roosevelt obliged — but the knife never reached Africa. He wrote that it was far too valuable to risk taking with him and kept it at home instead. The knife remained with the Roosevelt family for generations before selling at auction for $414,000 in 2016.
The knife explains why Roosevelt was reluctant to risk it. A J. Russell & Co. steel blade was paired with an elaborate gold-and-platinum hilt by Dreicer & Co. An eagle head with red garnet eyes forms the pommel; two bear heads become the guard. One side carries a forest scene with two Native American figures, while the other combines the arms of the United States, a wishbone and Roosevelt’s TR monogram. Presidential identity and hunting imagery occupy the same object. Spectres recreates that relationship in silver, using selective gold gilding and red accents to retain the contrasting materials and details that made the original too precious for the expedition it was made to join.
Theodore Roosevelt’s Hunting Knife became the first of three Roosevelt objects recreated by Spectres, followed by his 1884 Bowie Knife and the 1912 Bull Moose Revolver. Together they preserve three very different chapters of the same life: the young Roosevelt remaking himself in the Dakota Badlands, the former president leaving office for Africa, and the political insurgent returning to the campaign trail under the Bull Moose banner.
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.
