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Thursday 21 January 2021

1643) The Gold of the Pharaohs, Austria: "The Magic of Gold Coin Series" from the Mint of Austria: The Gold Coin Series of 100 Euro Gold Coins traces the mysterious nature of Gold in ancient cultures: Second Coin in the Series depicts Tutenkhamen's Mummy's face mask and his father Akhenetan: Year of Coin issue: 2020:

1643) The Gold of the Pharaohs, Austria: "The  Magic of Gold Coin Series" from the Mint of Austria: The Gold Coin Series of 100 Euro Gold Coins traces the mysterious nature of Gold in ancient cultures: Second Coin in the Series depicts Tutenkhamen's Mummy's face mask and his father Akhenetan: Year of Coin issue: 2020:

Since time immemorial, Gold has had a special effect on those who behold it. Shining seductively, rarely encountered and blessed with a comforting weight, the solidity of gold has a quality of its own. No other metal has as much symbolic meaning as Gold and no other concrete substance has been linked with so many abstract concepts, including heavenliness, immortality, purity and power. 

The Austrian Mint has brought out the "Magic of Gold Coin Series", which features  ancient art treasures and the mysterious nature of Gold in Ancient cultures where word ‘Gold’ is written on each of them in the respective script of the culture they explore: Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt, the Incas, the Scythians, India and China.

All the coins are a reflection of ancient art treasures. What was made of gold in the past still is today and, as it has for thousands of years, gold still has a mysterious and magical power. This Coin Series,  tells the story of the value of gold and the magical role it has played in advanced civilisations.

With the first coin in the Magic of Gold Coin Series we travelled back in time to Ancient Mesopotamia, ‘the land between two rivers’, the Tigris and the Euphrates. In Mesopotamian culture the ownership of Gold was associated with high standing and all Gold had to be handed over to the ruling classes and religious leaders. It was reserved for the powerful and the even more powerful – the gods. Mesopotamian Gold was mainly sourced from Egypt, where it was believed that the streets were paved with the precious metal.

The Gold of the Pharaohs, Egypt:

The Obverse of the 100 Euro Gold Coin seen against a background image of the walls of a tomb in the "Valley of Kings" embellished with solid Gold Carvings

An aura of mystery surrounds The Gold of the Pharaohs, the second coin in The "Magic of Gold Coin Series", which traces the mysterious nature of gold in Ancient cultures. Made of pure gold, the ‘flesh of the gods’ and the symbol of eternity in Ancient Egypt, the coin features the death mask of the ‘boy king’, Tutankhamun. 

More than 3,000 years old, the most celebrated of all the famous burial objects uncovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings is still casting its spell in the 21st century.

Inscrutable in its beauty, the face of Tutankhamun guards the secret of the Pharaohs and tells the story in pictures of what took place more than 3,000 years ago. 

In the 14th century BC, Tutankhamun’s father, Akhenaten, declared the Sun God, Aten, the one and only god and the Pharaoh his only representative on earth. When Akhenaten died in the seventeenth year of his reign, his successor was still a little boy, but Tutankhamun ascended to the throne just four years later. The Priesthood and officials, it is presumed, made Tutankhamun rescind his father’s reforms and restore ancient Egyptian polytheism by reintroducing the worship of multiple gods.

Tutankhamun was not even 20 years old when he died. But thanks to Howard Carter, an iconic representation of the boy king lives on. 

The British archaeologist made a sensational discovery in 1922 when he came across Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. 

As symmetrical and unearthly as it appears, on the death mask, which weighs 12.0 kg, Tutankhamun’s face seems natural at the same time, as if the real face of the young Pharaoh has been covered with gold so that it will last for eternity.

On the Reverse of the 100 Euro Gold Coin is seen the golden face mask of the Mummy of Tutenkhamun.

The Obverse of the 100 Euro Gold Coin features a collage of Ancient Egyptian images, with Tutankhamun’s father Akhenaten in its centre. The elder Pharaoh is on his knees with hands raised in homage to the sun god, Aten, as the lance-shaped rays of the solar disk descend towards him. In the background we see a sarcophagus containing a Pharaoh, under which the hieroglyphic for gold can be seen. The inscriptions on this face read - "REPUBLIK OSTERREICH" (on the upper periphery) and "100 EURO. 2020" (at left centre).

The specifications of the 100 Euro Gold Coin are:

Coin Series Theme: "The Magic of Gold Coin Series";  Coin Theme: "The Gold of the Pharaohs"; Denomination: 100 Euros; Metal Composition: .986 Fineness Gold (Au); Weight: 0.5 Oz or 15.78 grams; Diameter/Size: 30.0 mm; Thickness: 1.65 mm; Mint: Austrian Mint, Vienna;  Maximum Mintage: Not specified; Year of Coin issue: 2020; Coin Quality: Proof; Presentation Case: Yes; Certificate of Authenticity (COA): Yes. The Coin is Guaranteed by the Austrian Mint; Coin Designers: Mag. Helmut Andexlinger, Herbert Wahner.

The Presentation Case - open.

Each Proof Coin is presented in a Presentation Case, complete with a numbered Certificate of Authenticity (COA) and a protective slip-case.

The Certificate of Authenticity (COA) issued by the Austrian Mint (Munze Osterreich).



The elegant box in which all the six coins issued in the Series can be placed/housed.








Links to posts on Austrian Mint Coin issues on this blog:













For posts on COTY (Coin of the Year) winners since 2015 in a competition held by Krause Publications of Germany, please visit the following links:

Links to posts on Federal Republic of Germany issues and other posts on this blog:



For some other interesting posts from Italy/The Vatican, please visit the following links:






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