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HOME :
Byzantine Art :
Miscellaneous : Byzantine Engraved Bronze Weight
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Byzantine Engraved Bronze Weight - FZ.238
Origin: Jerusalem, Israel
Circa: 400
AD
to 600
AD
Collection: Byzantine
Medium: Bronze
£900.00
Location: UAE
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| Description |
As soon as man organized himself into societies,
he began to engage in trade and commerce.
Business requires standard weights and
measures, a means of determining quantity and
value, and these were among the earliest
inventions of civilization. Though these
standards varied greatly throughout the ancient
world, they tended to be uniform within
kingdoms and empires. This unusual bronze
weight dates to the early flowering of Christian
Byzantium. It was most likely used by a jeweler
to calculate the value of precious metals and
gems. It is engraved with a cross, encircled with
a wreath, and flanked on either side by letters.
This may be the monogram of the ruling
monarch, or perhaps of the jeweler to whom it
belonged. As we hold it in our hands, we are
reminded of those who held it long ago in a
vanished world.
- (FZ.238)
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