Details

LOT 0224

Mesopotamian Decorated Bulla Envelope Containing Tokens

MID 6TH-MID 4TH MILLENNIUM B.C.

2 3/8 in. (169 grams, 61 mm).

Spherical hollow clay mass with the remains of impressions to the exterior and ceramic tokens inside; surface cracked.

Provenance

Specialised collection of cuneiform texts, the property of a London gentleman and housed in London before 1992.
Thence by descent to family members.

Examined by Professor Wilfrid George Lambert FBA (1926-2011), historian, archaeologist, and specialist in Assyriology and Near Eastern archaeology, in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The collection is exceptional for the variety of types, including some very rare and well preserved examples.

Footnotes

This bulla envelope likely belonged to the Sumerian or Uruk culture.
It is believed that there are less than 250 complete and fragmentary examples of this type of bulla envelope worldwide. This is one of only a handful of examples ever offered at auction. The bulla first emerged in Mesopotamia around 8000 B.C. The clay envelopes contain a number of pre-baked accounting tokens, which were used in commercial and stock-taking transactions. Placing the tokens inside the bulla greatly enhanced the honesty of the transaction, as the bulla would have to be broken or crushed to reveal its contents.