Roman Glass Bead Necklace

Modelled in the round as a young beardless warrior hero with muscular body and rounded shoulders; wearing a high-crested pseudo-Attic helmet with a diadem; the hair arranged in orderly locks over his brow; the bent left hand would originally have held a shield and the extended right hand a spear. 278 grams, 13.5 cm high



Ex collection of Dr Djafari (1900-1981), Kaiserslautern, Germany. 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.11812-206498.

This statue of Mars Gradivus, the marching god of war, was probably a cult offering. The statuette still presents an archaic Etruscan hairstyle, being part of the Italic statuettes of the god produced as votive offering to the temples or for private lararia. A Gallo-Roman period temple dedicated to the cult of Mars with a similar statuette has recently been found in Brittany.

Cuboid with impressed ring-and-dot motifs disposed 6:5, 4:2, 3:1. 35 grams, 15 mm



Found 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.

The 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.

Comprising thirty glass beads of various sizes, including mosaic beads and some with drawn decoration. 49 grams total, 7-13 mm



UK gallery, early 2000s.

The mass production of glass in Ancient Rome prompted the development of glass jewellery of unique qualities. The ancient Romans considered jewellery to be an essential accessory, being a public display of the wealth of high social classes. Recent excavations have provided better information on the use of glass beads for necklaces and bracelets, and in some case has been possible to understand the exact arrangement of a necklace or other jewellery made of glass. Many of the examples here presented belongs to the so-called category of ‘eye-beads’.