EnvoyToTheMolePeople
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2018
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- Location
- Western PA, Northern NJ
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Max
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
About two weeks ago I purchased a misc lot of Byzantine items from a dealer in Dubai. He told me they were from around 1000 AD and that they were all found together at in Jordan. After ordering the items, I posted here asking for some cleaning techniques: https://www.treasurenet.com/threads/misc-byzantine-items.689714/
After I received the items this weekend I decided to clean with only toothpicks and distilled water. Here are a few pictures of me putting the display together. Sorry about the poor quality, my phone died and I had to replace it with my old one temporarily. I may post some close up pics of individual items if anybody is interested. Notable artifacts include 2 bronze crosses. The smaller one is a "5 wounds of Christ" type, with 5 small indents on it. The other has a large divet in the center which may have held a glass bead or stone. There were about 120 black glass beads, which I assume all came from the same piece of jewelry. There were all kinds of different styles and colors of other beads. There is a blue glass bracelet for an infant and a yellow glass ring. There are 3 unidentified pieces of round metal. One has a hole punched in it and may be an amulet of some kind, but it is the most corroded and I don't want to risk damaging it by cleaning it. There is also a Constantine I coin, which likely dates the whole lot to the 4th-5th century AD. There is also a round piece of bone which I think is a spindle whorl. Additionally, one of the small blue beads (in the top left of the last image) appears to be an Eye of Horus. These seem to have been popular in Egypt during the 6th-3rd century BC. It is odd to find that in a group of early Christian items. I plan on talking to a professor I know with an interest in ancient coins. He may have some further insight on the items. I have to say, I am really satisfied with how the display turned out. I wish my replacement phone took better pictures.
Picture from the website I bought the items from.
A picture from after I separated some of the items
The cleaning and display process.
The final display
After I received the items this weekend I decided to clean with only toothpicks and distilled water. Here are a few pictures of me putting the display together. Sorry about the poor quality, my phone died and I had to replace it with my old one temporarily. I may post some close up pics of individual items if anybody is interested. Notable artifacts include 2 bronze crosses. The smaller one is a "5 wounds of Christ" type, with 5 small indents on it. The other has a large divet in the center which may have held a glass bead or stone. There were about 120 black glass beads, which I assume all came from the same piece of jewelry. There were all kinds of different styles and colors of other beads. There is a blue glass bracelet for an infant and a yellow glass ring. There are 3 unidentified pieces of round metal. One has a hole punched in it and may be an amulet of some kind, but it is the most corroded and I don't want to risk damaging it by cleaning it. There is also a Constantine I coin, which likely dates the whole lot to the 4th-5th century AD. There is also a round piece of bone which I think is a spindle whorl. Additionally, one of the small blue beads (in the top left of the last image) appears to be an Eye of Horus. These seem to have been popular in Egypt during the 6th-3rd century BC. It is odd to find that in a group of early Christian items. I plan on talking to a professor I know with an interest in ancient coins. He may have some further insight on the items. I have to say, I am really satisfied with how the display turned out. I wish my replacement phone took better pictures.
Picture from the website I bought the items from.
A picture from after I separated some of the items
The cleaning and display process.
The final display
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