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20 Dollars Tutankhamun's Mask
| Issuer | Republic of Palau |
|---|---|
| Year | 2022 |
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| Composition | Gold plated silver (.999) |
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| Obverse description | The obverse depicts a highly detailed, three-dimensional rendition of the iconic funerary mask of Pharaoh Tutankhamun, faithfully reproducing its celebrated ancient Egyptian iconography. The mask is shown frontally, with the nemes headdress rendered in bold parallel ridges and adorned at the crown with a royal uraeus and vulture head. The face presents idealized, serene features with dramatically outlined eyes enhanced by selective dark coloring, flanked by the broad, striated lappets of the headdress falling to either shoulder. A broad wesekh collar descends across the chest, its lower border enriched with multicolor enamel or color printing imitating the original's inlaid lapis lazuli, carnelian, and turquoise banding. The entire composition is finished in gold plating, closely evoking the original gilded artifact housed in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. |
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| Obverse lettering | REPUBLIC OF PALAU RAINBOW'S END 20$ 2022 TUTANKHAMUN 2022 |
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| Additional information |
Palau has operated as one of the most prolific issuers of commemorative legal tender since the 1990s, producing hundreds of themed series under licensing arrangements that have little to do with Palauan history and everything to do with the global collector market. This piece appeared the year before the 100th anniversary of Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings — close enough to the centenary to trade on the association, but not quite it.
KM#954 is one of a densely populated field of Palauan Egyptian-themed issues. The gold plating on .999 silver is a finishing technique common to high-relief collector pieces where gilding selectively highlights raised elements.