ROMAN BRONZE GAMMADION BROOCH
Ca. 100-300 AD. A bronze openwork gammadion or tetra-gammadion brooch with a catchplate on the reverse, composed of four capitalised ? (gamma). Brooches were an important element of Roman dress, used to fasten clothing but they also served as dress accessories in their own right. Thousands of different types and subtypes of Roman brooches are attested, and they seem to have played an important role in Roman people's self-expression. This item may have belonged to a devotee of Jupiter, probably a soldier, as he was a particularly important deity among Roman military communities. For comparable brooches, see The British Museum, Museum number 1874,1228.4; The Mougins Museum of Classical Art (MACM), Inv. n°: MMoCA615; Richard Hattatt (2000), A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches. Oxbow Books, p. 357, item 1145. Size: L:25mm / W:25mm ; 9g Provenance: Private London collector, acquired on the Austrian Art market; formerly in an old USA collection, formed since the 1970s.

Estimate: GBP 75 - 150