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The Pharaoh
A duck adorned with a detailed Nemes headpiece and a small goatee, styled after ancient Egyptian pharaohs. Novelty duck for history fans and collectors.
Specifications
| Material | Vinyl (PVC) body, gold-tone painted headpiece detailing |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 3.7 x 3.4 x 4.0 in (headpiece included) |
| Weight | 2.5 oz |
| Color | Yellow body, blue and gold Nemes headpiece |
| Age Grade | 3+ years |
| Origin | Designed on Vashon Island, WA · Assembled overseas |
| Care Instructions | Wipe clean. Gold-tone paint is durable but avoid abrasive cloths. |
The Full Story
The Pharaoh was designed in a two week sprint following a company trip to a traveling museum exhibit on ancient Egypt, a trip that was, technically, meant to be a team-building outing for the marketing department and ended with the entire design team also showing up uninvited because word had gotten around there was a gift shop with genuinely excellent reference material.
The Nemes headpiece pattern went through a surprising amount of historical research for a rubber duck, including two phone calls with a museum curator who, according to meeting notes, was "extremely gracious about a company asking detailed questions regarding blue-and-gold striped headwear for waterfowl." The goatee detail was nearly cut for budget reasons before a designer pointed out it was, structurally, the single most recognizable part of the whole silhouette, and reinstating it delayed the launch by six weeks.
Of some interest to collectors: the first production run had a printing error that gave roughly two hundred units a slightly asymmetrical headpiece stripe pattern before it was caught. Most of those were pulled, but a small number shipped before the recall. If your Pharaoh's stripes look a little uneven, congratulations, you may be holding a genuine, mildly regrettable, manufacturing artifact.
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Customer Reviews
The gold tone paint really catches the light nicely. This one looks noticeably more premium than some of the other designs, worth the price.
My name is genuinely Cleo so this was an easy purchase. It did not disappoint, the detailing is lovely.
No complaints, solid little piece.
I study ancient history and have some notes on the collar accuracy, but I recognize I am not the target audience for a novelty bath toy critique on Egyptological accuracy. It's a nice duck. I just had to say something.
Bought this a while back and only just read the history section and realized mine is one of the 'error' batch with the slightly uneven stripes! Kind of thrilled about it honestly, feels like I own a tiny piece of duck memorabilia history.
Small chip appeared on the gold trim after just moving it from one shelf to another. Doesn't feel as durable as some of the other ducks I own from this brand.