Necklace with 33 Roman Melon Beads

Culture: Roman

Period: Late 1st century A.D.

Material: Glass

Dimensions: 47 cm long

Price: 800 Euro

Ref: 3736

Provenance: From the French entrepreneur and pre-historian Claude Douce (born 1937).

Condition: Beads intact and very well preserved. Re-threaded on a textile cord. Therefore, re-threading is recommended before wearing.

Description: Newly threaded necklace of 33 possibly belonging and in part very large Roman melon beads. These beads of opaque glass with large perforations and on the outside irregularly broad, parallel ribs. The material is a well-formable porous mass composed of quartz grit, glass powder and an organic binder, which was fired at relatively low temperatures of 600 to 800 degrees. The beads were coated with a shining glaze of bluish-green, turquoise or light green colour, which was formed from a mix of sand, lime, a high portion of soda and an addition of copper compounds. The ribs were in part pulled through a semi-circularly bent stamp. The origin of such beads was in Egypt. Since the western part of the Roman Empire was so intensively supplied with melon beads in the 1st century, a workshop can also be assumed there. See for the type the beads in the Archäologiepark Römische Villa Borg in Saarland, Germany with the inventory number 1990-3640.