High Folks,
I'm wondering how many of these pendants are in museum or private
collections because I haven't found many. Do any
members have one of these?
It is a
Janus head pendant of two Selinus (?) heads; made of translucent dark blue
glass; height: 26 mm;
weight: 3.75 grams. It was mold made, possibly by dipping a metal rod into molten
glass, then pressing the hot
glass between two molds, thus the pendant appears to be pierced half way through from the bottom because a hole remained in the
glass after the rod was removed.
Petrie (cited below) indicated these pendants may have been given as tokens at the
baths, and were worn about the neck to prove that admission was paid, and when leaving the
baths the suspension loop was broken. The vast majority of these pendants have broken suspension loops. This example is unusual because the loop in
intact.
Petrie also indicated that these pendants were only found in
Egypt.
They were not meant to survive
antiquity!
Bibliography:
1.
Petrie, W.M. Flinders.
Glass Stamps and
Weights.
London: British School of Archaeology in
Egypt, 1926 (reprinted by Aris &
Phillips, and
Malter, Warminster/Encino, 1974: page 2, Plate I.
2. Griefenhagen, A. Schmuckarbeiten in Edelmettal-Berlin, 2 vols.,
Berlin: 1975: Volume 2, Plate 21, 2.
Russ
