Byzantine Bronze Weight Collection

With remains of notch detailing to the outer edges of the arms, two links of the suspension chain. 2.58 grams, 38 mm



Ex DRG Coins and Antiquities, Essex, UK. Ex private Merseyside, UK, collection.

The frontal section of an enkolpion, with the representation of crucified Jesus among Saint Mary and Saint John; Christ dressed in a long tunic (colobium) decorated with parallel stripes (clavi) and patterned hatches, his head turned to the right; his wounds on the cross are marked by nails; the cross standing upon a small hill, identified by rare inscription 'Ο ΤΟΠΟС КРАΝΙΟΥ' (a place of a skull, Matthew 27:33), indicating Golgota; the titulum with inscription 'Ι(ΗСΟΥ)С X(ΡΙ СΤΟ)C' (Jesus Christ), and the sun (left) with the moon (right); the central inscription corresponds to the words of the Gospel of John 19:26: 'here is your son, (ΙΔΕ Ο Υ {ΙΟ} С {C}ΟΥ ) here is your Mother (ΙΔΟΥ Η ΜΗΤ{Η}Ρ CΟΥ)'. 56.5 grams, 86 mm



Formerly in a 1980s collection. Acquired on the UK art market. Previously the property of an Essex gentleman.

Usually the reliquary crosses or enkolpia, were composed of two separate halves, inside of which a relic of a saint was contained; this could have been a piece of cloth or a bone. This extraordinary piece is very rare due to containing part of the Gospel of John about the Crucifixion.

Comprising weights of various sizes and shapes, and bearing a variety of markings: ring-and-dot motifs, a cross; dimples. 270 grams total, 13-28 mm



Ex Simmons Gallery, London E11, UK, in the 1990s. From a North London collection.