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The Original Masters of Cache II


fox-and-the-hound

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If you're an artist you know what it's like to have a "block". It's depressing, upsetting and more than a little tough on your mental state. When it happens for days... well it hurts. I rarely suffer head aches (have no idea why), but I do get the occassional block. I don't know which is worse, but I'll get back to that.

 

Five years ago I was just dipping my toes into designing geocoins. Some really nice people thought more of my work than I did and took a chance on me. After getting a couple designs behind me I really dived in and worked like a ravenous dog to pull off a design that I would be proud to say was "good work". I tried new things, sketched endlessly and asked a lot of questions. I wanted to try this brand new product called "translucent enamel" and see what it could do. I took advice, made changes, banged my head off my desk and wacom tablet more than a few times. When it was done I was proud of my work. I rarely am (we artists are pretty critical of ourselves).

 

When I saw the pictures of the finished coin I was shocked. I was stunned. I wasn't happy. I had so many things that just weren't "right" and not what I intended. How in the world did the dragon end up 3d? Why is the translucent not clear like glass? Why (insert a couple dozen gripes here)? I waited for the inevitable critique to show up. To my surprise people liked it. To my greater surprise I had people write me and tell me it inspired them to buy their first geocoin ever. I started to feel proud of my work despite all the things that ended up differently than my inner vision dictated. I even started to feel like it wasn't that bad.

 

5 years later I'm sitting over my sketch pad as my baby boy lies next to me snoring and I'm doodling. It's been a bad day at work because of a block. I'm in a bad mood, but sometimes sketching coins brings relief and it's why I design coins at all. A sort of way to make art just for the pure joy of it again. When you do it 10-12 hours a day at work the last thing you really want to do is go home and be creative. Tonight is shaping up as I'm speed sketching and trying to move my arm as once again it's gone all pins and needles with Xander piled up half on top of me. I'm thinking about where it all started and I'm thinking about the statement I made when I designed that first Master of Cache. I set out to design a coin that was so interesting to look at that people wouldn't know which side was "up" or the face side. There were so many coins that were amazing designs that just didn't inspire on the "back" and I thought it was a shame. I loved the idea of changing that mode of thinking. I might have just been suffering an ego trip, too, from all the wonderful support by this community. Be that as it may, I had a goal and it's still my first thought with every new design. (This time I'm in for a surprise and don't even know it yet.)

 

OMC0.jpg

 

So I'm looking at my old notes and sketches. I'm looking over the old list I jotted down of caching masters in history and which of these treasure-stashing legends would be cool to base a new coin on. A spark appears in the deep dark blackness of the artist's block and it begins. I sketch quickly and move on. Add a little detail... nope. Maybe this or that... nope. Argh! This is infuriating and the block is back. Oh, well, I'll think about it tomorrow, but for now there's a guttering spark of possibility slowly smoldering in the dark.

 

As so many of my late designs attempt to, this one tells a story. Why this creature? Why is he different from any other that hoarded away something of value? What makes him so interesting? Why would he have any relationship to caching (much less coins)??? I needed to do a little research. Man, I had NO idea what I was getting myself in to! LOL Turns out there's more than one "official" god of the dead in Egyptian mythos. They even fought for control over their dominion even though they represented different aspects of it. These ideals and dogmas influenced the rule of the entire known world. Ra, Anubis, Horus, Bast, scarabs, colors and the lifelong preparation of the most powerful men and women in the world for the afterlife. It's all in here and it all holds particular importance to the idea of creating the greatest cache ever. The work of many peoples' lifetimes. I thought the story was all about the mummy of a king, but I was wrong. He had the easiest assignments. The faithful family, friends, priests, servants and even pets and beasts of burden got involved! Do you know those symbols on the rim? You should if you love geocoins! Do you know why feathers are powerful symbols? Do you know why cats are so important or why the priests of Bast held such sway over far more powerful political and religious parties? It's all here and the more you question, the more you seek to understand the details of this coin, the more you'll know why I chose the elements I did, why I put them in the order they're in, why I picked the colors I did and how it all wraps together as a symbol of why this amazing culture of treasure gatherers truly were the Masters of Cache.

 

I don't want to give it all away yet, but I'll tell more of the story of the details from time to time. I'd like to give you the chance to explore and uncover the secrets of the details in this cache of images. For now, I'll just list the regular stuff....

 

OMC1.jpg

 

1.75 Inches

3.5mm

Antique Gold or Antique Gold

Soft and Soft Translucent Enamels

Trackable

Custom Icon

 

Available at: http://www.geocoinstore.com/

 

OMC2.jpg

 

As always, thanks for your support, your ideas and your encouragement to keep doing this. For me that will always be the real treasure! :D - Chris

Edited by Flying Spaghetti Monster
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WOW!!!!!

 

This coin frightens me!!!!

 

What a great job you did, Chris! Though I wanted to save some money for another coin you are doing ;) I just had to buy one for my collection. Unbeleavable what can be done on a geocoin....

Edited by yanagi
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These coins are outstanding, but then so are ALL of the coins you have produced! I cannot think of any coin you have designed that I have not wanted (I do have a lot of them, but not all). I love the intricacy of your designs.

 

I have always wondered how the creative process runs through the heads of artists. . . like how are you always creative,how can you come up with design after design, where do those ideas come from, are you ever stumped for ideas?

 

Thanks for posting your sketches and thought processes. I really enjoyed reading your post.

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I thought the original Masters of the Cache was a masterpiece in design and production and bought multiples. This new one is just as magnificent hands down and I can't wait to get mine in the mail today or tomorrow; outstanding! Oh, I hear the mailman now. Gotta go.....!

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Thank you so much for the story to this coin. That is what I really appriciate and its honored the work and time and the skill of making such an outrageous coin. Just superb !

The moment I saw this coin on the shop site yesterday, it took me seconds and the coin was ordered.

It is such an outstanding coin and I really love to see it in real.

 

More than really well done, thank you so much !

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I'm not a fan of undead themes; I just don't have any interest in skeletons, zombies, or mummies. However, this coin transcends the category.

 

Wow, all I can say is wow!

 

I expect that I will be buying one in the near future. Sadly, my funds are limited right now, so I can't send one of these into the wild, but these really need to be put into caches.

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I showed Indiana Anthony this coin & like quite a few coins out right now (the warrior, jedi mickey) he fell in love! We took him 2 years ago to Dallas to see the king Tut show & he has loved Egyptian stuff every since. So.....being the good momma I am I whipped out the credit card and got us both one! I don't usually buy coins on my card cuz if I don't have the money, I just don't have the money but this coin is so great!! I can't wait to get it in person & really examine all the great details.

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I bought a gold version last night.

 

When I am feeling wealthy again, I intend to buy a bunch of these to put into caches. I normally would not put a coin this nice into a cache, but the design begs me to and I expect that the mummy's curse would prevent a certain number of thefts. A coin as cool as this one just needs to be running free in the wild.

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Thank you so much everybody for your comments! As promised, I'm going to periodically tell some of the story of why I've added the particular elements and details I have on this coin...

 

To the sides of Anubis, you'll see a Priestess kneeling in supplication (left) and the Goddess Bast holding a jar of ointment (right). Bast, aka Bastet or Ubasti is often depicted as a feline-headed woman and had dominion over the protective aspects in divinity. Her symbol, the feline was highly regarded by the people of Egypt as cats were protectors of homes against vermin and deadly snakes. To my surprise she was also known as "the Eye of Ra" and the wife of Ra. Bast became a symbol of all aspects of protection including the practical such as ointments, embalming fluids and more. Her favored symbol, the common house cat was so revered that to this day there have been hundreds of thousands of mummified felines found in archaelogical finds.

 

bast.jpg

 

To the Masters of Cache, she was an absolute necessity in the preparation of cache. She was a protector against all the things that could attack or damage a cache and even more importantly the enabler of the sacred ointments that would protect the mummy for travel to the next world. Our Master of Cache couldn't exist without her direct influence so the symbols of her divinity and her worshipers were a must for this coin! Thank you for taking the moment to let me share this with you and I'll add more soon :)

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It's been about a week so I thought I'd bring a little more of the design to light this morning :)

 

OMC1.jpg

 

I asked previously about feathers, multiple gods of the dead and hidden symbols. One of the most interesting aspects I found in all the art I looked through while researching is the repeated use of the feather as a symbol. It turns out the feather, or "shut", was a symbol of all aspects of goodness, truthfulness, faithfulness, loyalty, etc. It stood for all things that are symbols of goodness. When a Pharoah died, the god Anubis was shown to take out the heart of the pharoah and weigh it on a scale against this feather to discern the level of goodness in his soul and decide his fate in the afterlife. Anubis was known as the weigher of souls and not just a lord of the dead, but a judge of the dead. I added the head of Horus, The Protector, over the heart of our mummy and added the spread wings of a priestess's feather robe spread wide across his chest to include the importance of the symbol in the fate of our Master of Cache. Without the feather and the weight of the goodness in a person's heart the cache would be a useless endeavor.

 

When I return next I'll write about the symbols arrayed around Anubis in the outer ring and why they're so important to Geocoins :)

Edited by fox-and-the-hound
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