Sdeco Design: Uncharted inspired gift set

Uncharted

In the beginning of this year we were asked to make a unique birthday gift, for a true Uncharted fan. We have made a special treasure chest in the style of Uncharted and in this blog we tell you how we have put everything together.

Uncharted is a video game series made by Naughty Dog, available on PlayStation. The series follows the adventures of treasure hunter and fortune seeker Nathan Drake, also known as Nate, as he often clashes with various other hunters and thieves. Drake serves as the main protagonist and playable character throughout the game, often being joined by several allies including his old mentor Victor Sullivan and love interests Elena Fisher and Chloe Frazer.

The games yet released are Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (2007), Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009), Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception (2011). In May 2016 a new game had been released; Uncharted 4: A Thief's End. More about that later!

The treasure chest

The box is designed to look like an antique chest. On the lid are small gems on the approximate locations from the storylines of the first three games. It has antiqued brass-plated stop-hinges so that when the lid is open, it doesn't fall all the way back and damage the back of the chest or the lid. As finishing touch, the vintage looking box is bound with leather-look straps and finished with antiqued nails. On the front is an antiqued brass-plated swivel latch, to keep the lid secure.

Gemstones

Antiqued brass-plated latch

Leather-look straps and antiqued nails

The Journal

In each game Nathan has a special journal where he writes down notes and tips (which help you to solve mysterious puzzles) and records of places of interest he has seen. First we've added all three journals together into unique book, as shown on the photos below. We also left a clue what the final gift would be, do you already have any idea what it could be?

2007 Panama - 2009 Nepal

2011 France, Syria, Yemen - 2016 Madagascar

A ticket to the Istanbul Palace Museum

The Ring
In Uncharted 3, Nathan Drake finds a ring belonging to Sir Francis Drake. The inscriptions say: Sic Parvis Magna (which means greatness from small beginnings), 29 januarie 1596 and the co-ordinates "9-32-79. The ring has a diameter of 2.3 cm and the suede cord is 80 cm, which is adjustable. We've added one ring in a special black giftbox to the set, get your own copy here at our webshop.

Sic Parvis Magna ring

The Phurba Dagger

The dagger is an artifact that Nate found in Uncharted 2: Among thieves. It is a knife with three blades, referred to as "a golden passport to Shambhala" by Marco Polo in one of his journal entries.

In the game it's very hard to find the dagger, but when they've found it, Drake uses the dagger as a key to open special doors in a temple in Nepal, and ultimately, the gate of Shambhala!

We have made a replica of the dagger, it is about 32 cm long, antiqued bronze, and has three faces. There's currently one for sale in the shop, it's quite labor intensive to make because it has so many details.

Phurba Dagger

The Cryptex

A cryptex is a portable vault to hide secret messages, it's a combination of the words cryptology and codex. This could be one of the riddles Nathan has to solve in the game, so we thought it was perfect for this gift set! The code the open this cryptex is hidden in the journal, you might have noticed some special symbols with numbers on the photos above. We aren't going to reveal the solution of the riddle, but with the numbers in the right order you can finally open the cryptex. Inside was a letter from the people who requested the gift box, announcing that the birthday boy will get Uncharted 4 once it has been released. Note: the birthday was in March, the game's release was in May.