Roman and Other Mixed Bead Group

Featuring moulded legs and scalloped lower edge to front face; circular hole to the top; hollow-formed. 556 grams, 14.5 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

Some bronze supports found in the dedication shrines in temples are peculiar: they often have no frames of architectural derivation and have a central hole to the top. These bases seem to have not been intended for statuettes but for objects that may have needed support on a wall due to their height, possibly military standards, numerous fragments of which have been found in the Northern Italian regions. If this hypothesis is correct, this base could confirm the dedication of 'standards' as ex voto, positioned in the temple as a place for the conservation of military insignia.

Imitating Hadrian's sestertius adlocutio, the emperor with a companion (or Castor and Pollux) on horseback, one of the horsemen holding a round shield; arrayed legions in front of them wearing crested helmets, raised spears and quadrangular shields; legionary eagle in the foreground; the scene enclosed within a rope border; pin lugs and catchplate to the reverse. 12.9 grams, 33 mm



From a Cambridgeshire, UK, collection, 1990s. This brooch is an extreme rarity and is believed to be the finest known example. Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11747-202502.

These brooches were a mystery until one was excavated at Wiggonholt, Sussex, together with three other damaged specimens now in the Devizes Museum, all from Wiltshire (more precisely Cold Kitchen Hill). The image of the original coin was slightly modified. The local craftsman improved the coin type making his brooch more interesting, transforming the Emperor Hadrian on horseback into two cavalrymen, probably the sacred Dioscuri, while the Roman Aquila, symbol of the legions, was taken from the top of the signa and placed in the foreground.

The gammadion design created from an openwork square-shaped plate; semi-circular suspension loop to centre reverse. 32.4 grams, 49 mm



Acquired on the EU art market around 2000. From the collection of a North American gentleman.