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A Minoan dark green semi-translucent steatite seal ring image 1
A Minoan dark green semi-translucent steatite seal ring image 2
Lot 19

A Minoan dark green semi-translucent steatite seal ring

28 November 2019, 10:30 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £2,550 inc. premium

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A Minoan dark green semi-translucent steatite seal ring
Early Minoan III-Middle Minoan I, circa 2200-1800 B.C.
The flat circular face with linear cruciform design, the hoop bevelled, seal face 1.9cm diam.; ring 2cm wide

Footnotes

Provenance:
Hans (1900-1967) and Marie-Louis (1912-1997) Erlenmeyer collection, Basel.
The Erlenmeyer Collection of Cretan Seals; Christie's, London, 5 June 1989, lot 22.
Private collection, acquired at the above sale and housed in the UK.

Published:
J. Betts, Corpus der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel, Band X, Die Schweizer Sammlungen, Berlin, 1980, p. 67, no. 26.

The unusual, possibly unique, form of this seal is in imitation of Early Minoan ivory rings, a type which was shaped around the natural hollow of the bone.

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