Two Roman Silver & Leaded Brass Penannular Rings

Roman, probably Imperial period. This lot has two cast penannular rings, each an open hoop that swells at the base and tapers toward a narrow gap. The larger ring is leaded brass with a warm olive-gold surface. Its thick, faceted lower section is cleft at the center and still shows the hand-worked planes left by hammering. The smaller ring is silver of about 96 percent purity. It has a smooth, lunate profile that rises to two fine, nearly touching terminals, and the surface has darkened to a soft gunmetal patina. Neither ring is decorated, so their purpose is open to interpretation. They may have been worn as earrings or hair rings, used as small implements, or kept as ring money, a store of value that could be weighed by metal. Their weight made them useful in any of these roles, and the scales may well have mattered as much as the mirror. Penannular rings of this swelling, crescent-like form were made across the Mediterranean and temperate Europe for many centuries. Because they are so simple, it is hard to tell what any single example was for. The same shape could clip onto a lock of hair or an earlobe, hang from a cord, or circulate as metal held for its weight. In economies that were only partly monetized, such rings made a convenient form of bullion. That is why scholars use the term "ring money," while warning that many such rings were probably also worn. The two metals here are informative. Brass (Latin orichalcum) is an alloy of copper and zinc, and the Romans produced it on a large scale by the cementation process, heating copper with zinc ore in sealed crucibles. It was valued for its gold-like color and was used for sestertii and dupondii as well as for fittings and jewelry. Adding lead made the molten alloy flow more easily into molds. The smaller ring, at roughly 96 percent silver, is close to pure metal, a fineness consistent with use as an object of stored value. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205867

Stima:€269.57

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