Roman Chacedony Gemstone with Nude Figure

Part of a wax tablet with two holes in the frame for fastening, Greek writing. 45.45 grams, 18.6 x 7.2 cm



Property of a North London gentleman; previously in the Dean family collection since 1975.

Wax tablets written in Greek or Latin, were used by Romans as account registers (codices accepti et expensi); for transactions (for example, the tablets of the banker Lucius Caecilius Iucundus found in Pompeii); for lists of goods, inventories, and notes to be kept and archived; for Roman magistrates to annotate the salient events of their bureaucratical activities; for writing letters; for drawing up legal texts of various kinds: legacies, declarations of births and citizenship, reports of trials and diplomata militaria.

A group of twelve hand-cut and hand-polished globular gaming pieces. 79 grams total, 14-17 mm



Acquired in the 1990s from the Bath Antiques Centre, Somerset, UK. From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman.

Also known as Lapis Lacedaemonius and Porfido Verde Antico, a type of green porphyry quarried in Greece. Spartan basalt is a form of andesite or volcanic rock known today only from a single source in the village of Krokees on the Peloponnese in Greece. In addition, ancient sources mention a quarry of Lapis Lacedaemonius in Taygetus.

Mixed group of graduated beads in various colours and materials, the central feature a large discoid bead; restrung. 35.4 grmas, 45.5 cm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex London, UK, collection.