30 - AN ANCIENT OR EARLY MEDIEVAL GOLD LUNAR PENDANT

AN ANCIENT OR EARLY MEDIEVAL GOLD LUNAR PENDANT Of sheet gold, with two shallow crescents between tapering terminals and a slender raised medial arc, with grooved suspension loop above. Analysed as 95.24% gold, 2.78% silver, 1.99% copper Size/dimensions: 3.90cm long Gross weight: 2.31g The pendant is structurally sound, with gentle rippling, a few surface scratches and minor bends and slight creasing about the points of the crescents. These is a minor tear to the central point. Overall it is offered in fair condition. Provenance By descent to the present owner The crescent moon, also known by the Latin term lunula, is one of the oldest protective symbols in jewellery. In the Hellenistic world, crescent pendants of sheet gold were among the most popular amulets, associated with the moon and with protection, and Roman girls traditionally wore a lunula until their marriage. The form proved remarkably enduring. In the Viking Age the lunula was worn across Scandinavia and the Baltic, and in the lands of the Rus’ and the western Slavs it became one of the most characteristic women’s ornaments of the tenth to twelfth centuries. Because the simple crescent changed so little over more than a thousand years, a plain example such as this can be difficult to date with certainty. Its high-purity gold is consistent with either period.