The polished and frosted €100 coin from Münze Österreich, issued in 2020, is the second in The Magic of Gold 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 – the most celebrated burial object uncovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings.
The coin highlights the significance of the discovery, with the face of Tutankhamun guarding the secret of the Pharaohs and telling 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, to be the one and only god and the Pharaoh his only representative on earth. When Akhenaten died, his successor was still a child. It is believed that the priesthood and officials made Tutankhamun rescind his father’s reforms and restore ancient Egyptian polytheism by reintroducing the worship of multiple gods.
The obverse features a collage of Ancient Egyptian images, with Akhenaten in its centre, raising his hands in homage to Aten, against a background of a sarcophagus
