Silver coin 2 Oz Kintsugi art: Queen Nefertiti

This exceptional silver coin from the Mint XXI mint brings together two seemingly incompatible aesthetic approaches – Egyptian and Japanese.

Ancient Egyptian art and the Japanese art of kintsugi. Two distinct expressions of human culture, originating at opposite ends of the world, seem incompatible at first glance. Egyptian art sought timelessness—capturing the divine order and ageless beauty in solid, unchanging, and idealized forms that would endure forever. One of the most famous symbols of this endeavor is the bust of Queen Nefertiti—a masterpiece created with extraordinary precision that, even after more than three millennia, still embodies the ideal of feminine beauty. The Japanese artistic technique used to repair broken ceramic objects, on the other hand, embraces and celebrates imperfection. Instead of concealing them, it highlights the cracks using gilded lacquer, which reveals the transience of things. Yet these two contrasting approaches have something in common—both celebrate beauty and harmony, which every person secretly longs for deep in their soul…

The reverse side of the coin features the face of Queen Nefertiti, which is covered by a network of cracks filled with gold. The obverse side also embodies the spirit of kintsugi, bearing the attributes of the coin’s issuer Cameroon. These include the country’s name, the nominal value of 2,000 FRANCS CFA (XAF) together with the year 2026. All of this is rendered in high relief accentuated by patina.

The coin minted from two ounces of pure silver has a mintage of 299 pieces.