lot/roman gold betrothal ring greek inscription omonoia 95 gold AfscgRy 633076738 / For sale

lot/roman gold betrothal ring greek inscription omonoia 95 gold AfscgRy 633076738

For salePrice history

lot/roman gold betrothal ring greek inscription omonoia 95 gold AfscgRy 633076738

For salePrice history

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All auctions / Jewelry & Gems / Roman Gold Betrothal Ring | Greek Inscription OMONOIA (95% Gold)

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Roman Gold Betrothal Ring | Greek Inscription OMONOIA (95% Gold)

Roman, Imperial period. A band of high-purity gold, formed from a hammered sheet bent into a near-circle and welded closed at the ends, its broad flattened bezel stamped with the Greek word OMONOIA, "concord". The metal tests at roughly 94.95 percent gold, near the unrefined purity favored for Imperial-era personal ornament, and the surface retains the faint tool-softened irregularities of hand-raising rather than casting. Letters sit shallow and slightly uneven, punched individually into the face. Rings of this type were exchanged as tokens of agreement and affection, most often between betrothed or married couples, and the vocabulary is deliberately Greek even in Latin-speaking contexts, where homonoia carried philosophical as well as domestic weight. A wearable epigraphic object, compact and unornamented, its meaning carried entirely by seven letters. Homonoia (Greek) and her Latin counterpart Concordia personified agreement itself. She began as a civic deity, invoked to hold fractious poleis and later provincial cities in alignment: coin issues from Asia Minor struck under the Empire regularly advertise homonoia treaties between neighboring cities, the word functioning as a diplomatic term of art. The private, marital sense grew out of that public one. By the Imperial period the concept had descended from the treaty table to the household, and concord became the standard shorthand for marital harmony, appearing on rings, cameos, and gems, frequently paired with the dextrarum iunctio, the clasped right hands that sealed a Roman betrothal. The construction here is characteristically ancient: a strip of sheet gold bent to shape and joined, rather than cast in one piece. The very high fineness, well above modern 18k, reflects the limited refining of antiquity, where gold was alloyed more by accident than design. Item # 205274

Estimate:$1,000

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Estimate:

$1,000

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