Genuine Roman Celtic Austria Engraved Ring 200AD Size 6

Genuine Ancient Engraved Roman-Celtic Bronze Ring Third Century A.D.

CLASSIFICATION: Ancient Roman Bronze Ring with Engraved Geometric Bezel Design.

ATTRIBUTION: Roman Provincial Noricum (present-day Austria), Third Century A.D.

SIZE/MEASUREMENTS: Fits ring size 6 (U.S.).

Diameter: 21mm * 20mm (outer dimensions); 17mm (inner diameter).

Bezel: 11mm (breadth) * 8mm (height) * 3 1/2mm (thickness).

Tapered Width Band: 8mm (at bezel) * 4 1/2mm (at sides) * 5mm (at back).

Weight: 5.69 grams.

CONDITION: Very Good! Complete. Moderate wear consistent with ancient usage. Very light porosity (surface pitting caused by contact with earth while buried). Professionally conserved.

DETAIL: A very well preserved third century A.D. Roman engraved bronze ring from Provincial Noricum. The ring is well preserved, and though it exhibits some fairly substantial wear from being used by its original Roman owner, the detail is nonetheless well preserved, and the ring is entirely intact. This is a heavy ring, very rugged, easily twice the weight of the typical similar-sized ring produced in the era. The bezel is crafted into a soft marquise with rounded ends, a popular style for the period. The engraved motif is also a very popular geometric design during the first few centuries A.D. Whether the design has any significance other than that merely of a geometric design is difficult to ascertain, it seems to contemporary eyes merely a random, abstract series of vertical and diagonal hatch marks together with horizontal slash marks (lines).

Such cross-hatched and abstract geometric designs were quite popular and extensively used, and were oftentimes associated with Celtic craftsmanship. You might also notice a series of incised lines in the bands echoing or accenting the bezel profile as the bands join the bezel. This is an “extra touch” again, quite characteristic of Celtic artisans who tended rather than merely engrave a bezel, to also accentuate the bands themselves with some sort of engraved embellishments. In addition to an abstract bezel engraving and incised bands, this specimen possesses another hallmark characteristic of the bronze rings produced within the Roman Empire by Celtic artisans. That is the very distinctive “knob” at the back of the band. The Romans highly regarding Celtic workmanship, and articles of jewelry produced by Celtic artisans were highly prized, and by the time of Imperial Rome, Celtic artisans could be found scattered throughout the empire.

Oftentimes it is possible to identify a particular significance to geometric designs, but more often than not the tentative interpretations are speculative. Suffice it to say the bezel of this ring bears a very popular engraved design quite typical of the time. It’s possible that there is some significance to the pattern, but it is more likely that it was simply a pleasing geometric design which was popular to the era and region. Dots, hash-marks, “V” and “X” symbols were often used as design elements with no special significance, and their appearance is oftentimes entirely mundane and ordinary. Regardless, the ring is a wonderful, well-preserved piece of ancient Roman jewelry. It has a beautiful dark bronze tone very characteristic of ancient bronze, very handsome, and quite unlike any contemporary ring.

Though heavy, the ring is of one-piece construction, much like a contemporary ring. The more archaic rings (which also tended to be heavy) produced by Roman artisans were characteristically made in two pieces; an incomplete ring (a “shank”) with a separately crafted bezel which was brazed to the shank in order to assemble the ring. The ring’s size is a bit small for modern populations, but the ring was almost certainly worn by an ancient Roman adult woman, perhaps even a male adult. Take into account that primitive populations were generally of slighter build than today’s robust populations, and the Italians then and even today were typically smaller than say their German/Celtic contemporaries.

Romans also oftentimes wore rings on all ten fingers (including their thumbs), so “pinkie” rings would have been much more common than they are today. And Romans wore rings on both the first and second joint of their fingers, the second joint obviously thinner (even on you and I) than the first joint where most people wear rings today. So a size 6 ring would not have been an uncommon size for the typical Roman adult. Fate has been kind, and the ring has been preserved in wonderful condition. Of course the ring does evidence some moderate all-over wear, you can see that the engraved design on the bezel has been worn down a bit, though it is entirely discernible and still relatively sharp. The ring started its “previous life time” as a very heavy ring, and it remains so today; rugged and with absolutely unimpaired integrity. However the engraved design on the bezel does show wear, and is fainter than it would have been originally.

The fact that the ring does evidence some wear should not, however, a construed as a source for disappointment. You must keep in mind that the ring was produced by an artisan and sold to a patron or consumer with the idea that the ring would be enjoyed and worn by the purchaser. And without any regard to twenty-first century posterity, that precisely what happened! The original Roman owner of this ring wore it, enjoyed it, and probably never could have in his most delusional moment ever dreamed that almost 100 generations later the ring would still exist. It should likewise come as no surprise that also detectable are the telltale signs that the ring spent thousands of years in the soil. Porosity is fine surface pitting (oxidation, corrosion) caused by extended burial in caustic soil.

Many small ancient metal artifacts such as this are extensively disfigured and suffer substantial degradation as a consequence of the ordeal of being buried for millennia. It is not at all unusual to find metal artifacts decomposed to the point where they are not much more substantial than discolored patterns in the soil. Actually most smaller ancient artifacts such as this are so badly oxidized that oftentimes all that is left is a green (bronze) or red (iron) stain in the soil, or an artifact which crumbles in your hand. However this specimen is not so heavily afflicted, and certainly has not been disfigured.

Even to close inspection, it simply looks like an ancient ring, nicely surfaced, no immediately discernible blemishes. You have to look very closely, such as with a jeweler’s loupe or in these photo enlargements, to detect the telltale signs indicating the ring was buried for millennia. This ring spent almost 2,000 years buried, yet by good fortune there is only an exceptionally light degree of porosity evidenced. It happened to come to rest in very gentle soil conditions. Consequentially, the integrity of the artifact remains undiminished, and despite the very mild porosity, the ring remains quite handsome, and entirely wearable.

This is an exceptional piece of Roman jewelry, and a very handsome and significant artifact. The ring has very nice rich tone, is quite sturdy and completely wearable, and the ring has been professionally conserved. The Romans were of course very fond of ornate personal jewelry including bracelets worn both on the forearm and upper arm, brooches, pendants, hair pins, earrings intricate fibulae and belt buckles, and of course, rings. Despite its shortcoming of exhibiting moderate (but not excessive) wear, this specimen is an exceptional piece of Roman jewelry, a very handsome artifact, eminently wearable, and aside from being significant to the history of ancient jewelry, it is also an evocative relic of one of the world’s greatest civilizations and the ancient world’s most significant military machines; the glory, might and light which was ancient Rome.

HISTORY: One of the greatest civilizations of recorded history was the ancient Roman Empire. In exchange for a very modest amount of contemporary currency, you can possess a small part of that great civilization in the form of a 2,000 year old piece of jewelry. The Roman civilization, in relative terms the greatest military power in the history of the world, was founded in the 8th century (B.C.). In the 4th Century (B.C.) the Romans were the dominant power on the Italian Peninsula, having defeated the Etruscans and Celts. In the 3rd Century (B.C.) the Romans conquered Sicily, and in the following century defeated Carthage, and controlled the Greece. Throughout the remainder of the 2nd Century (B.C.) the Roman Empire continued its gradual conquest of the Hellenistic (Greek Colonial) World by conquering Syria and Macedonia; and finally came to control Egypt in the 1st Century (B.C.).

The pinnacle of Roman power was achieved in the 1st Century (A.D.) as Rome conquered much of Britain and Western Europe. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Britain in the West, throughout most of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, and into Asia Minor. For a brief time, the era of “Pax Romana”, a time of peace and consolidation reigned. Civilian emperors were the rule, and the culture flourished with a great deal of liberty enjoyed by the average Roman Citizen. However within 200 years the Roman Empire was in a state of steady decay, attacked by Germans, Goths, and Persians. In the 4th Century (A.D.) the Roman Empire was split between East and West. The Great Emperor Constantine temporarily arrested the decay of the Empire, but within a hundred years after his death the Persians captured Mesopotamia, Vandals infiltrated Gaul and Spain, and the Goths even sacked Rome itself. Most historians date the end of the Western Roman Empire to 476 (A.D.) when Emperor Romulus Augustus was deposed. However the Eastern Roman Empire (The Byzantine Empire) survived until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 A.D.

In the ancient world valuables such as coins and jewelry were commonly buried for safekeeping, and inevitably the owners would succumb to one of the many perils of the ancient world. Oftentimes the survivors of these individuals did not know where the valuables had been buried, and today, thousands of years later caches of coins and rings are still commonly uncovered throughout Europe and Asia Minor. Throughout history these treasures have been inadvertently discovered by farmers in their fields, uncovered by erosion, and the target of unsystematic searches by treasure seekers. With the introduction of metal detectors and other modern technologies to Eastern Europe in the past three or four decades, an amazing number of new finds are seeing the light of day thousands of years after they were originally hidden by their past owners. And with the liberalization of post-Soviet Eastern Europe, new markets have opened eager to share in these ancient treasures.

Bronze is the name given to a wide range of alloys of copper, typically mixed in ancient times with zinc or tin. The Bronze Age followed the Neolithic, and as the name implies, saw the production of bronze tools, weapons and armor which were either hard or more durable than their stone predecessors. Traditionally archaeology has maintained that the earlier bronze was produced by the Maikop, a proto-Indo-European, proto-Celtic culture of Caucasus prehistory around 3500 B.C. Recent evidence however suggests that the smelting of bronze might be as much as several thousand years older. Shortly after the emergence of bronze technology in the Caucasus region, bronze technology emerged in ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean), Anatolia (Turkey) and the Iranian Plateau. By the late fourth to early third millennium B.C. many Bronze Age Cultures had emerged. Some of the more notable were the Celtic cultures of Middle Europe stretching from Hungary to Poland and Germany, including the Urnfield, Lusatian, and (Iron Age Transitional) Hallstatt Cultures.

The Shang in ancient China also developed a significant Bronze Age culture, noted for large bronze burial urns. Britain’s Bronze Age cultures included the Beaker, Wessex, Deverl, and Rimbury. Cornwall was the principle source of tin not only for Britain but exported throughout the Mediterranean, and copper was produced from the Great Orme mine in North Wales. Though much of the raw minerals may have come from Britain (and to a lesser extent Spain), it was the Aegean world which controlled the trade in bronze. The great seafaring Minoan Empire appears to have controlled, coordinated, and defended the Bronze Age trade. Tin and charcoal were imported into Cyprus, where locally mined copper was mined and alloyed with the tin from Britain. It appears that the Bronze Age collapsed with the Minoan Empire, to be replaced by a Dark Age and the eventual rise of the Iron Age Myceneans. Evidence suggests that the precipitating event might have been the eruption of Thera and the ensuing tsunami, which was only about 40 miles north of Crete, the capital of the Minoan empire.

It is known that the bread-basket of the Minoan empire, the area north of the Black Sea lost population, and thereafter many Minoan colony/client-states lost large populations to extreme famines or pestilence. Thus with the end to the shipping of tin throughout the Mediterranean the Bronze Age trade network is believed to have failed, and the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of the Iron age is normally associated with the disturbances created by large population movements in the 12th century B.C. The end of the Bronze Age saw the emergency of new technologies and civilizations which heralded the new Iron Age. Although iron was in many respects much inferior to bronze (steel was still thousands of years away), iron had the advantage that it could be produced using local resources during the dark ages that followed the Minoan collapse. Bronze also resists corrosion and metal fatigue better than iron. Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, but for many purposes the weaker iron was sufficiently strong to serve in its place. As an example, Roman officers were equipped with bronze swords while foot soldiers had to make do with iron blades.

Domestic shipping is $3.99 for first class mail or $6.99 for Priority Mail. Domestic rates include USPS Delivery Confirmation (you might be able to update the status of your shipment on-line at the USPS Web Site). Canadian shipments are $3.99 for Air Mail; International shipments are $4.99 for Air Mail (and generally are NOT tracked; trackable shipments are EXTRA). I can add most other items I sell to the shipment for only $0.99 each. Your purchase will ordinarily be shipped within 48 hours of payment. We package as well as anyone in the business, with lots of protective padding and containers. Insurance is available for both domestic and international shipments ($6 for domestic shipments; $12 for international shipments; ONLY required when PayPal is used.

We do NOT recommend uninsured shipments, and expressly disclaim any responsibility for the loss of an uninsured shipment. Unfortunately the contents of parcels are easily “lost” or misdelivered by postal employees – even in the USA. If you intend to pay via PayPal, please be aware that PayPal Protection Policies REQUIRE insured, trackable shipments. We do offer U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail, Registered Mail, and Express Mail for both international and domestic shipments, as well United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (Fed-Ex). Please ask for a rate quotation. We will accept whatever payment method you are most comfortable with. If upon receipt of the item you are disappointed for any reason whatever, I offer a no questions asked return policy. Send it back, I will give you a complete refund of the purchase price.

Most of the items I offer come from the collection of a family friend who was active in the field of Archaeology for over forty years. However many of the items also come from purchases I make in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) from various institutions and dealers. Though I have always had an interest in archaeology, my own academic background was in sociology and cultural anthropology. After my retirement however, I found myself drawn to archaeology as well. Aside from my own personal collection, I have made extensive and frequent additions of my own via purchases on Ebay (of course), as well as many purchases from both dealers and institutions throughout the world – but especially in the Near East and in Eastern Europe. I spend over half of my year out of the United States, and have spent much of my life either in India or Eastern Europe. In fact much of what we generate on Yahoo, Amazon and Ebay goes to support The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as some other worthy institutions in Europe connected with Anthropology and Archaeology.

I acquire some small but interesting collections overseas from time-to-time, and have as well some duplicate items within my own collection which I occasionally decide to part with. Though I have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, my primary interest is in ancient jewelry. My wife also is an active participant in the “business” of antique and ancient jewelry, and is from Russia. I would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from me. There is a $2 fee for mailing under separate cover. Whenever I am overseas I have made arrangements for purchases to be shipped out via domestic mail. If I am in the field, you may have to wait for a week or two for a COA to arrive via international air mail. But you can be sure your purchase will arrive properly packaged and promptly – even if I am absent. And when I am in a remote field location with merely a notebook computer, at times I am not able to access my email for a day or two, so be patient, I will always respond to every email. Please see our "ADDITIONAL TERMS OF SALE."