Clio Ancient Art and Antiquities: Provenance

Our second video, dealing this time with the importance of PROVENANCE in the antiquities trade. Questions and comments welcome, as always.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0b77JLavcA

Our First Antiquities Informational Video

 Something new: our first antiquities informational video. This one deals with the question of determining authenticity. We'll improve the sound and lighting on future vids, which will deal with many other aspects of the antiquities trade as well as specific types of antiquities by material, culture, date, etc. Hoping to post new vids every week to ten days. Comments welcome.
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jdr0V3fQfQ&feature=youtu.be 

 

 

Our website: www.clioancientart.com

Ancient Classical Coins: Beauty and Diversity

Over the years Clio Ancient Art has sold a great many ancient coins.

While our focus has always been ancient artifacts and art of the Roman, Greek, Byzantine, Cypriot, Egyptian, Near Eastern civilizations, ancient coins are always popular with our customers.

In this Blog entry, which is admittedly as much for pure visual pleasure as for educational value, we offer a very small sample of images of coins we’ve sold in the past couple of years, including Greek, Roman Republic, Roman Imperial and Byzantine coins in silver and bronze, and a few from related cultures.

It may surprise some readers to learn that many ancient coins like those shown here may be purchased for under $100 or even under $50.

To view our current selection of ancient coins go to: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/c18_p1.html

 Greek Cities, Kallatis, Silver Octobol, 3rd Century BC

Kingdom of Macedon, Bronze of Philip II, 356-339 BC

                             Roman Republic Silver Denarius of M. Lucillius Rufusus, 101 BC

 Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Vespasian

 Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Julia Doman

 

Roman Empire, Silver Denarius of Severus Alexander, AD 222-235

Roman Empire, Silver Antoninianus of Gallienus

Constantine I (The Great) AE3, AD 307-337 

Judean Kingdom Bronze Pruttah of Alexander Jannaeus

Byzantine Empire, bronze Follis of Justinian I

  

 Parthian Kingdom, Silver Drachm of Orodes I, AD 80-90

A Common Question: How Do I Know it’s “Real”?

We are quite frequently asked by aspiring private collectors as well as experienced antiquities owners and even museums how to determine if an object they own is a genuine antiquity or if it is a fake, forgery or reproduction. Our Identification and Authentication Services page addresses this question: http://www.clioancientart.com/id23.html

Sadly, this is Typical

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/488535/20130710/lavezzi-pompeii-statue-bust-naples-psg.htm
Sadly, this incident, while widely reported because it involves a prominent European football star, illustrates many flaws in Italian cultural patrimony laws. These laws are often enforced unevenly, with the powerful and influential escaping prosecution. They tend to focus on punishment alone as a solution to the problem of looting or unauthorized ownership of antiquities, rather than following a more rational model that would encourage reporting of finds by the public with financial incentives. And these laws are based solely on outdated nationalistic, emotional arguments that all Roman antiquities, for example, must belong to the modern Italian state, which of course has very little relationship to the vast majority of ancient Roman artifacts. In the case of Pompeii and many other Italian archaeological sites, the near total neglect of these sites, in terms of the Italian government’s overall financial resources, is a disgrace, given the sheer scale of tourism these sites generate. Perhaps I’ll engage in a more detailed examination of these issues using this blog in the near future.

Late Roman Rod Formed Glass Vase Amulets

Among the more intriguing and beautiful glass antiquities available on our website are three examples of vase amulets dating from the later Roman era. These come in a variety of forms and colors, and first appear in the archaeological record around the mid-3rd Century AD (or CE, if one prefers). Production seems to have begun in the broader Syria / Palestine area, though examples have been found over a very wide area, including western Europe. It is thought that as they spread beyond their initial point of manufacture they were copied by glass artisans elsewhere.

The purpose or symbolism of these objects remains obscure. It has been suggested that their appearance and diffusion is somehow directly connected to the spread of Christianity but there is very little evidence to support this.

These remarkable objects were created by bead makers, not glass blowers. Their structure is basically that of a short tubular bead, closed at one end, tooled to create a neck or mouth, and enhanced with a tiny loop handle and either trailed and marvered  decoration in a contrasting color or a contrasting latticework applied to the body. the first example shown below is an example of the latticework type, while the second and third examples illustrate the trailed decoration.

Links to these objects on our site and “clickable” images -

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i375.html

 

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i376.html

  

http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i377.html

For further reading on this class of objects we recommend:

* E. Marianne Stern, Roman, Byzantine, and Early Medieval Glass, 10 BCE – 700 CE, Ernesto Wolf Collection, Osfildern-Ruit, 2001,

* Maud Spaer, Ed., Ancient Glass in the Israel Museum, Beads and Other Small Objects, Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 2001.

A Few Thoughts About Ancient Coins on Our Website

Although Clio Ancient Art deals primarily in antiquities and ancient art - bronze sculptures and utilitarian objects, glass vessels & objects, ceramic vessels, oil lamps, even textiles - we do try to carry a variety of ancient coins.

Our selection of ancient coins is, admittedly, rather atypical. While many ancient coin dealers focus on strictly "Classical" coins, that is, Greek and Roman coins, we try to offer both these and a wide variety of coins influenced in some way by classical antiquity. These include coins from the Byzantine Empire, the Islamic world, the Indian subcontinent, the European Middle Ages and cultures tangential to the broader Greco-Roman world.

Here are a few samples of both Classical and other ancient and Medieval coins on our website; enjoy  --

*  Roman Empire, Bronze Follis of Maximinus II, AD 310-311: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i275.html

* Roman Provincial, Bronze 4.5 Assaria of Gordion III & Tranquillina: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i427.html

*  Himyarite Kingdom. Amdin Bayyan. Silver Hemiobol. circa AD 100: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i266.html

*  Islamic, Samanid Dynasty, Bronze Fals of Mansur I, AD 961-976: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i425.html

*  India, Western Satraps, Silver Drachm of Rudrasimha II, AD 305-313: http://www.clioancientart.com/catalog/i424.html