1974.09

Roman Necklace of Glass Beads

Purchased. Diam. each bead ca 0.58cm; total length of beads ca 40.3cm.

Necklace of ninety spherical glass beads ranging in colour from yellow-green to mid-brown with some mauve; the overall effect is of dark amber. The string and clasp are modern.

Necklaces of this form and colour seem to have been particularly popular in the northern provinces under the later Empire. Compare for instance F. Fremersdorf, Römisches Buntglas in Köln (Cologne 1958) pl. 122; also M. Guido, Glass Beads of the Prehistoric and Roman Periods in Britain and Ireland (Reports ... Society of Antiquaries of London no. 35, 1978). Whilst this necklace is from the Roman provinces, it is not necessarily of Roman manufacture.

Charles Ede Ltd (London), Catalogue 98 (October 1974) no. 44; J.R. Green with B. Rawson, Catalogue of Antiquities in the Australian National University, A.N.U. (Canberra, 1981) 104.