Renilde’s lifelong passion for the ancient world and numismatics, together with her fascination with intaglios, lies at the heart of the Tanit Collection. As an art historian with a PhD, she considers the quality of each image, its iconography, and its historical context, searching for coins and intaglios whose significance can sustain the creation of a singular jewel.
These precious fragments of the past become the protagonists of our rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings. We deliberately seek out images of ancient women of power, symbols of strength, autonomy, and courage that mirror the spirit of our brand and the women who wear them. Each is personally selected for the clarity and quality of its image, its historical importance, and its individual character. Only well-preserved coins, generally graded from Very Fine (VF) to Extremely Fine (XF), are considered for the collection, so that the ancient artistry remains vivid.
Throughout history, female representations on coinage have been rare. Early Greek and Roman mints occasionally depicted goddesses, nymphs, or sovereign queens, but as empires expanded, the portraits of emperors dominated, obscuring the presence of women on currency.
This historical rarity turns our search into a journey of discovery. The treasures we uncover, many dating back to the first millennium BC, are among the oldest surviving works of art in the Western world, preserved not as static museum objects, but as living art.
“When the first coin, bearing the image of Tanit, arrived by mail, I was taken aback. Holding a 2,300-year-old artefact in my hand was difficult to describe. Despite its small size, the image was astonishingly sharp: Tanit’s profile, her hair, her earring and her necklace were all beautifully visible.
I was deeply moved and understood at once that this was not my coin. I was its custodian, responsible for keeping this survivor safe for the next generation. What better way to protect and honour such a treasure than to set it within a precious gold jewel?
To honour the ancient artisan, we worked side-by-side with our workshop to build a substantial gold frame around it. When the first finished piece returned from our bench, I knew we had truly done justice to the engraver and the minter who created it more than two millennia ago.“
Renilde Vervoort
During the seventh and sixth centuries BC, the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians established thriving settlements across the Mediterranean, laying the groundwork for a rich cultural exchange that would shape the region’s history. Their colonies stretched from western Asia Minor to southern Italy, Sicily, North Africa, and the coasts of southern France and Spain. As these civilisations flourished, the necessity for structured trade led to the development of hand-minted coins in gold, silver, and bronze, featuring distinctive designs and inscriptions. These coins, especially those from the major city-states, achieved extraordinary levels of technical and aesthetic quality, becoming true miniature works of art.
This exquisite silver coin, the first acquired for our collection, features the head of Tanit facing left. She is adorned with a wreath of grain leaves, a triple pendant earring, and a pearl necklace. The magnificent Greek style is reminiscent of the elegant Arethusa designed by Euainetos. This masterpiece was minted around 330 B.C., possibly in Sicily, Entella.
Among the coins of the ancient world, those from the wealthy Greek city-states of Sicily stand out, particularly the masterpieces minted in Syracuse, which were intended to showcase the city’s prosperity to the entire Greek world. Perhaps the finest ancient coins ever created bear the head of the nymph Arethusa in profile, crafted by artists such as Euainetos and Kimon, who signed their dies, preserving their names for eternity. These coins, with their realistic depictions and high-quality metals, remind us of the enormous talents of ancient Greek artists and artisans, and the cultural achievements they represent. The refined style and elegance of Arethusa’s portrait have been imitated many times, making these coins not only symbols of wealth and artistic excellence but also influential benchmarks for subsequent coinage, even centuries later.
The Tanit Collection takes its name from the patron goddess of Carthage, whose image appeared on the first coin acquired for the collection. Her story is inseparable from that of Queen Dido, who fled Tyre and led her followers across the Mediterranean to the coast of modern-day Tunisia.
According to the foundation legend, Dido was granted as much land as could be enclosed by a single oxhide. She cut the hide into the finest possible strips and used them to encircle an entire hill, securing the ground upon which Carthage would rise. Yet the first site revealed an ox skull, interpreted as an omen of submission. Dido moved the settlement. At the new location, a horse’s skull was found, a sign of freedom, nobility and martial strength. The horse became a central symbol of Carthage and appears on the reverse of the coin that gave the collection its name.
From its beginnings as a Phoenician settlement, Carthage grew into a formidable Mediterranean power and a determined rival of Syracuse in Sicily. Their conflict was fought through armies and territory, but also through images. Syracuse had established an extraordinary artistic standard with its celebrated coins bearing the profile of Arethusa. Carthage answered by adopting this visual language for its own coinage.
The resemblance was deliberate. It proclaimed that Carthage could equal the artistic achievement and monetary authority of Syracuse. Yet beneath Carthaginian rule, the image acquired a new identity. Arethusa became Tanit, protectress of Carthage, and the Greek profile was transformed into a distinctly Carthaginian emblem of religious and political power.
The one-of-a-kind jewels of the Tanit Collection bring ancient art into a contemporary language of architectural clarity and restrained gold. Each coin or intaglio remains the protagonist, with its image, patina and history fully legible within a setting conceived around it.
Every piece centres on a woman from antiquity: a goddess, nymph, personification or empress whose authority still speaks across centuries. The connection is completed by the woman who becomes its custodian. In her life, the ancient image acquires new meaning, linked to memory, identity, protection or personal achievement.
To wear a Tanit jewel is to carry an intact fragment of history, no longer kept at a distance, but continuing its story on the body.