21st Nov, 2025 13:00
Fine Antiquities & Ancient Art
96
A GOLD AND GLASS BEAD NECKLACE, ANCIENT GREECE, HELLENISTIC PERIOD, 3RD-1ST CENTURY BC
Sold for €3,120
including Buyer's Premium
The necklace is composed of 119 elements, centered by an elliptical bead of brownish glass inlaid with delicate white glass threads, its terminals mounted in hallmarked gold caps fitted with eyelets. Suspended from these are two bitumen beads encased in hammered gold sheet, above which are spherical gold-glass beads attributed to a workshop in the Black Sea region.
Expert’s note: Necklaces combining glass, bitumen, and gold elements illustrate the cosmopolitan nature of ancient jewelry production. The use of brown glass inlaid with white threads reflects advanced core-formed techniques, while the hammered gold sheathing of bitumen beads demonstrates ingenious use of organic cores. The spherical gold-glass beads can be traced to workshops in the Black Sea region, renowned from the Classical period onward for their innovative fusion of glassmaking and goldsmithing. Such composite necklaces testify to both technical sophistication and far-reaching trade networks.
Provenance: The private collection of Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994), Austria, acquired before 1970, and thence by descent. A copy of the collection notes from Prof. Josef Mairitsch, confirming the provenance above, accompanies this lot. Professor Josef Mairitsch (1938–1994) was a Carinthian scholar whose private collection encompassed over 200 objects of Pre-Columbian, Iranian, Roman, Greek and other origins, significantly contributing to Austria’s holdings in ancient art. His collection was already widely published in catalogues and the press from the 1970s, especially its Pre-Columbian section.
Condition: Good condition overall, commensurate with age. With expected ancient wear, including losses to the gold sheet covering some beads, small cracks and nicks to the glass elements, and general surface wear. Old repairs are evident, and it is possible that some small components were supplemented from other period necklaces.
Weight: 165 g
Dimensions: Height 75 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a related Hellenistic necklace with a central seal pendant set in similar gold caps, dated to the 3rd century BC, possibly the Hellenistic period, 23.7 cm high, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 122-1864.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 13 December 2013, lot 271
Price: USD 5,000 or approx. EUR 6,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Greek gold and faience necklace, Hellenistic period, circa 2nd cenury [sic!] B.C.
Expert remark: Compare the related spherical gold beads, and date. Note the different shape and smaller size (48.2 cm).
The necklace is composed of 119 elements, centered by an elliptical bead of brownish glass inlaid with delicate white glass threads, its terminals mounted in hallmarked gold caps fitted with eyelets. Suspended from these are two bitumen beads encased in hammered gold sheet, above which are spherical gold-glass beads attributed to a workshop in the Black Sea region.
Expert’s note: Necklaces combining glass, bitumen, and gold elements illustrate the cosmopolitan nature of ancient jewelry production. The use of brown glass inlaid with white threads reflects advanced core-formed techniques, while the hammered gold sheathing of bitumen beads demonstrates ingenious use of organic cores. The spherical gold-glass beads can be traced to workshops in the Black Sea region, renowned from the Classical period onward for their innovative fusion of glassmaking and goldsmithing. Such composite necklaces testify to both technical sophistication and far-reaching trade networks.
Provenance: The private collection of Prof. Josef Mairitsch (1938-1994), Austria, acquired before 1970, and thence by descent. A copy of the collection notes from Prof. Josef Mairitsch, confirming the provenance above, accompanies this lot. Professor Josef Mairitsch (1938–1994) was a Carinthian scholar whose private collection encompassed over 200 objects of Pre-Columbian, Iranian, Roman, Greek and other origins, significantly contributing to Austria’s holdings in ancient art. His collection was already widely published in catalogues and the press from the 1970s, especially its Pre-Columbian section.
Condition: Good condition overall, commensurate with age. With expected ancient wear, including losses to the gold sheet covering some beads, small cracks and nicks to the glass elements, and general surface wear. Old repairs are evident, and it is possible that some small components were supplemented from other period necklaces.
Weight: 165 g
Dimensions: Height 75 cm
Literature comparison:
Compare a related Hellenistic necklace with a central seal pendant set in similar gold caps, dated to the 3rd century BC, possibly the Hellenistic period, 23.7 cm high, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number 122-1864.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 13 December 2013, lot 271
Price: USD 5,000 or approx. EUR 6,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A Greek gold and faience necklace, Hellenistic period, circa 2nd cenury [sic!] B.C.
Expert remark: Compare the related spherical gold beads, and date. Note the different shape and smaller size (48.2 cm).
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