Roman and Earlier Glass Bead Necklace String

A mixed group of pottery fragments from vessels and other items. 3.59 kg total, 36-64 mm



Found at the Roman settlement of Crococolana, Brough, Lincolnshire, UK, 2003-2005. Ian Wilkinson collection, Nottinghamshire, UK, formed since 1985. This group is for UK buyers only.

Matched pair, each a hooked pin with a large hollow-formed domed panel and a smaller one above, dangle beneath with two iridescent glass beads. 4.48 grams total, 40 mm each



Private collection, USA and Switzerland, acquired in the late 1980s-early 1990s; thence by descent.

The pair of gold earrings is in the form of a very broad "boat-shaped" crescent. The back was often filled in with a concave plate of gold, and a lenticular disc above masked the junction of the S-shaped wire hook with the body of the earring. They are typical of the 1st -2nd century A.D.

A mixed group of ceramic bullae, tesserae or theatre tokens bearing low-relief motifs, mainly consisting of profile busts of deities. 43 grams total, 16-23 mm



From the private collection of a European gentleman (1942-2024), formed since the 1970s.

The term 'tessera' was used in Roman times to convey the Greek term σύμβολον (token). Small tiles are known as tokens, often shaped like coins, made of metal (copper, lead, iron), clay, bone, wood, or glass, stamped as well as engraved. The tokens, however, are not exclusively coin-shaped, as the Latin term 'tessera' suggests by etymologically referring to a square or at least a four-sided shape and confirmed in several cases by material remains of the past. Tokens and tesserae seem to have been used both in Athens and Rome for the distribution of goods. According to written sources, the term token is identified with credentials of the official authorities. They have also been interpreted as tokens of identity, as entrance tickets to theatre performances, tribunals or assemblies of citizens, archival material of seal engraving, as pawns in games, Charon’s obols and even as amulets.