Roman Votive Terracotta Hand Group

Including Spartan Basalt, mined in Greece, cut and polished on one side; one marble fragment marked in pencil: 'VILLA / HADRIAN', another: 'OSTIA / ANTICA'; a large amphora handle; seven pottery fragments; a carved decorative edge stone; a marble core fragment; a later floor tile fragment; with an old handwritten slip with: 'VILLA HADRIAN, AUSTRIA ANTICA, Nr. ROME, ITALY.' and on the inside: 'AUSTRIA ANTICA / (Region in ancient Rome) / VILLA HADRIAN / (outside Rome)'. 1.57 kg total, 5-18.5 cm



Acquired on the UK market, since 1970. From the historic mineral collection of Richard Valentine Cain, London, UK, thence by descent.

Comprising one round-section in deep blue, one similar in deep red, and a D-section in pale blue/turquoise. 14.3 grams total, 42-55 mm



Formerly with a Bournemouth gentleman. Ex Essex collection. Property of a Scottish collector, acquired in 2013.

Bangles did not occur in a vacuum after the Roman invasion but were an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first century A.D. According to J. Price bangles were first developed in southern Britain in the late Claudio-Neronian period (A.D. 43–65/70) and that in subsequent periods the craft of bangle-making quickly spread further north with the advance of the Roman army.

With stepped domed base, the shank square in section and tapering with helmetted head, stub arms, chevron hatching to the chest and male genitals. 33 grams, 56 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.