Date: Circa: 5^th - 3^rd Century BC: Eastern Mediterranean or North Africa:

Size: Height: 48.6 mm: Max. Width: 25 mm: Depth: 27 mm: Weight: 26.67 grams:

Composed of a cylindrical dark cobalt blue to black blown glass bead decorated to the front with a circular face with applied eye beads, ear brows, lintiod nose, lips and applied ears: The head is seen crowned with a lighter cobalt blue glass decorated applied white and orange circular granulations with the glass retention loop seen complete above:

The outer blown glass details surface patination seen with oxidised iridescence in lighter tones in key areas across the body of the amulet: These deposits can be appreciated within the macro-photography shown at various angles:

Provenance:

Previously held within a private UK collection, formed in the 1980s and acquired by Ancient Pasts in the mid-1990’s:

Footnotes:

Ancient Carthage [founded 814 BC] was an ancient Semitic civilization cantered in North Africa. Initially a settlement in present-day Tunisia, it later became a city-state and then an empire - see pic. 11: 

Literature:

It is unsure where this type of large face bead was produced as their known find spots include both Phoenician and Carthaginian sites. They are believed to have been made in the same workshops as other large head pendants with demonic masks, bearded male heads, or rams' heads. For a similar face bead, cf. N. Kunina, Ancient Glass in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 1997, p. 62, nos. 20-1. For further discussion of the type, cf. D. F. Grosse, Early Ancient Glass, The Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo 1989, pp. 82-3, 90, no. 48, col. pl. p. 71.

Reference material and further reading: 

Where possible ancient artifacts may be referenced to similar material observed in the following publications within my collection:

• British Artefacts Vol.1, 2 and 3: Brett Hammond [Greenlight Publishing 2010]:

• Celtic & Roman Artefacts: Nigel Mills [Greenlight Publishing 2007]:

• SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome: Mary Beard [Profile Books 2015]:

• 50 Bronze Age Artefacts: Portable Antiquities Scheme: Dot Boughton [Amberley Publishing 2021]:

• Pottery in Britain 4000BC to AD 1900: Lloyd Laing [Greenlight Publishing 2003]:

• British Iron Age Coins In The British Museum: Richard Hobbs [British Museum 1996]:

• Swords of The Viking Age: Ian Peirce: [The Boydell Press 2003]:

• Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society Volume 85: [Cambridge University Press

  2019]

• Mesolithic Europe: Geoff Bailey / Penny Spikins [Cambridge University Press 2008]

• Viking Art: James Graham-Campbell: [Thames & Hudson, London 2018]

• Roman Coins Vol. 1, 2 & 3: David R Sear: [Spink London 2000]:

• The Roman Cavalry: Karen R. Dixon: [B. . Batsford 1997]:

• Rome’s Saxon Shore: Coastal Defenses of Roman Britain AD 250 – 500: Nic Fields [Osprey Publishing 2006]:

• Amulets of Ancient Egypt: Carol Andrews: [University of Texas Press / British Museum Press 1994]:

• The Uniforms of the Roman World: Military dress, weapons, artillery, ships, siege engines and fortifications: Kevin F. Killey: [Anness Publishing 2017]:

Where possible finger rings may be referenced to similar material observed in the following publications within my collection:

• Victorian and Albert Museum CATALOGUE OF FINGER RINGS 1930: C.C.Oman [Anglia Publishing. 1991 – Now out of print]:

• Finger Rings: Diana Scarisbrick / Martin Henig: [Ashmolean Museum Oxford. 2003]:

• Ancient Rings An Illustrated Collectors Guide: T. N. Polio: [McFarland & Co Inc. 2018:

• 1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments of the Hand: Le Van, Marthe; Ebendorf, Robert [W: Lark Books 2004]:

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