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Lot 213

1 May 2013, 10:30 BST
London, New Bond Street

£1,000 - £1,500

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A Roman glass disc weight
Circa 1st-2nd Century A.D.
Of flattened circular form, the edges rounded, the pontil mark folded into a floral motif, 2½in (6.5cm) diam

Footnotes

Provenance:
American private collection, Massachusetts, 1976.

Literature:
Such glass discs were used for a variety of purposes, including jar lids, mirror backs, windowpanes, game pieces and weights. There is a slightly curved disc with painted decoration forming the back to a mirror, as well as a once gilded glass disc backing a silver (or electrum) disc, both in The Ray Winfield Smith Collection: Glass from the Ancient World: The Ray Winfield Smith Collection, Corning, New York, 1957.

For a green disc in Aquileia Museum dating to the fourth century A.D., possibly from a window, cf, M. C. Calvi, I Vetri Romani del Museo di Aquileia, Aquileia, 1968. Plain discs of various sizes and colours also served as game pieces. A dark blue disc of the 1st-2nd Century A.D. was exhibited in Genova in 1999, cf. B. Massabò, Magiche Trasparenze, Genova, 1999.

Additional information

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