It is a “not widely known” fact that Emperor Napoleon loved collecting medals and was very interested in minting coins that recorded his victories, which he would give to France’s allies.
Napoleon's passion for collecting medals began when he was in Egypt! He found a medal bearing the face of Julius Caesar He took it as a good omen, and when he returned to Paris, he carried this medal with him. It is enough to know that when Napoleon died and his estate was settled, 3,000 different medals were found in his possession!
Besides what was known about the emperor’s passion for medals, he was also known for his fondness for everything Egyptian and Pharaonic. Therefore, the imperial goldsmith decided to create a masterpiece befitting his lady, which is a drawer made specifically to store the collection of medals.
The piece was made in the shape of a temple that still stands in the Egyptian city of Qus. It has 44 steps and was made of precious mahogany wood. In addition, it was inlaid with 900-grade silver, which was a difficult challenge at the time, as most pieces of furniture were inlaid with gold-plated bronze.
The sacred sun disk extends its wings to protect all the medallions kept in the piece, and two cobras surround the sides of the drawers. However, the secrets of the piece's beauty do not end there, but begin! With a light press of a very precise pin on the cobra's eye, the upper part of its neck drops, revealing a hole for inserting the key, which in turn reveals the 44 drawers. Each drawer has a winged silver scarab that can be pulled out to finally see its contents.
Truly a piece of history and one of the most beautiful items we have seen in Al-Muqtana Al-Arabi magazine.
