Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Anglo-Saxon Bead Necklace



This item was sold in September by Timeline Auctions for £750. They describe it as
ANGLO-SAXON MULTI-COLOURED BEAD NECKLACE

5th-7th century AD

A restrung group of glass beads featuring assorted decorated coloured glass beads (round, melon and oblate) with four carnelian spherical beads and two of quartz; modern clasp. 82 grams, 36cm (14"). Very fine condition. Rare as a full wearable necklace. Provenance: Found Catterick, Yorkshire, UK.
There seems to be no archaeological provenience information; the date comes from study of the beads. Of course spherical carnelian and quartz beads are completely undatable, and I suspect this sold for such a low price because buyers suspected that the original find was filled out with some odd-lot antique beads. But whether that is true or not, there are a bunch of early medieval glass beads here, and how cool that somebody is still wearing them.

Via Archaic Wonder.

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