Cook Islands – 2020 – 20 Dollars – Dendera Zodiac / Archeology & Symbolism Series

Description

The Dendera Zodiac is the 4th coin in the Archeology & Symbolism series. Bowl shaped (middle part) smartminted on a 3oz huge 65mm diameter, antique finish and just 333 pieces released worldwide (99 pcs gilded). Unique details feature this coin as small as minting allows.

The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the pronaos (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Hathor temple at Dendera, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and Libra (the scales). This chapel was begun in the late Ptolemaic period; its pronaos was added by the emperor Tiberius. This led Jean-Fran�ois Champollion to date the relief to the Greco-Roman period, but most of his contemporaries believed it to be of the New Kingdom. The relief, which John H. Rogers characterised as “the only complete map that we have of an ancient sky”, has been conjectured to represent the basis on which later astronomy systems were based. It is now on display at the Mus�e du Louvre, Paris.

Key Selling Points:

Heavy 3oz silver coin
Interesting small details
Unique concept series
Low mintage
Smartminted relief on 65mm
Antique & gilded versions