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LOT 0663
Large Romano-British 'Published' Lead Gaming Dice
CIRCA 1ST-4TH CENTURY A.D.
5/8 in. (35 grams, 15 mm).
Cuboid with impressed ring-and-dot motifs disposed 6:5, 4:2, 3:1. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFound UK prior to 2000.
From the important private collection of dice and gaming pieces of Colin Narbeth, London, collection no.61.
Accompanied by a copy of the relevant Celtic & Roman Artefacts book pages where this object is published.
Mills, Nigel, Celtic & Roman Artefacts, Witham, 2000, p.113, item no.RB356.
LiteratureCf. Spasić Durić, D., Град Виминацијум-The city of Viminacium, (in Serbian), Pozarevac, 2015, fig.166, for similar.
FootnotesThe conventional Roman dice were made in bone or lead, with dots representing numbers from 1 to 6. Roman dice from the Romano-British settlements are often poorly made and often had opposite sides that do not add up to 7.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0663
Large Romano-British 'Published' Lead Gaming Dice
Sold for (Inc. bp): £286
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Roman Blue Cut Glass Bead Necklace
1st century A.D.and laterEstimate: £400 - 600 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £160
Mainly polyhedral and biconical beads with oblate spacers, with later clear glass beads. 89 grams, 73 cm long
with a London, UK gallery 1971. -
Roman Gemstone with a Shepherd Milking a Goat
1st-3rd century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
With intaglio scene of a man milking a goat with one leg extended, his back resting on a tree-trunk; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 0.79 grams, 12 mm
Collected from 1970-1999. From the collection of the late Mr S.M., London, UK. Accompanied by a previous catafalque information slip. -
Roman Silver Crossbow Brooch
3rd-4th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,170
Parcel-gilt crossbow brooch with onion-shaped knops to the ends of the headplate and medially along the top edge; deep trapezoidal-section bow with median gusset; D-section footplate with chamfered sides open to one edge; upper part of one face of the bow with niello-filled running scroll design, lower part of the other face with running guilloche; beaded wire collar at the end. 14.6 grams, 46 mm
Ex N.C. collection. Acquired on the Swiss art market in 2000. European private collection.
Crossbow fibulae of this type were worn by high officers and, if in gold, even emperors, from Constantine to Justinian, as symbols of military rank. These fibulae are an important element in the graves, for the classification of the category of the dead, as belonging to the militia (armed or not); many of them were in gold, or gilded silver, and decorated with an inscription.
