Tibetan Glass Prayer Bead Necklace with Jade Buddha Pendant

D-shaped in section with italic inscription to inner face "I love you". 1.05 grams, 20.67 mm overall, 18.43 mm internal diameter (approximate size British N, USA 6 1/2, Europe 13.72, Japan 13)

Repaired.

Found Suffolk, UK. Property of a Suffolk, UK, gentleman.

Ellipsoid with reserved profile of Karl Theodor Anton Maria Von Dalberg facing left, attributed to Johann Martin Bückle (1742-1811). 3.52 grams, 25 mm



Private collection, Europe. Acquired on the English art market.

Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg (February 8, 1744 – February 10, 1817) was a Catholic German bishop and statesman. Throughout his career, he held various significant positions, including Prince-Archbishop of Regensburg, Arch-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire, Bishop of Constance and Worms, Prince-Primate of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Grand Duke of Frankfurt.

A rare complete and undamaged rectangular plaque bearing raised, moulded text on the obverse; with hatched three horizontal bars and two pelletted between five registers, framing the letters of the alphabet '+ABCDE / FGHIKL / MN[reversed]OPq / RSTVW / +Y[Z]'; tree with berries on a hatched field to the reverse. 26.8 grams, 53 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector near Kniveton, Derbyshire Dales, UK. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.WMID-341C6A.

The letter 'U' has been omitted from the alphabet, as is common with such objects, as has the letter 'J', suggesting that the book was produced prior to the publication of Charles Butler's English Grammar (1633), which first distinguished between I and J. The letter Z is reversed. Hornbooks were employed as learning aids and commonly made from paper mounted onto wood, together with a transparent sheet of horn. Smaller, more portable lead-alloy examples such as this one are generally believed to have been mass-produced, whilst still falling within the genre of 'hornbooks'.