Antique golden broche with shell cameo
Object: Golden broche with cameo. Antique hand cut shell cameo set in 14 carat gold. About 1900.
The broche is marked and the measurements are: 4.2 x 3.1 x 1.2 cm. A Ladies portret.
Beneath there's a very expensive cameo of the Roman emperor Augustus.
The find
The sepulchre hillocks date probably of 1st or 2e centuries after Christ. On the 10th of October 1892
they were examined under the control of baron Alfred the Loë. In the third sepulchre hillock someone
found a golden stick with the text MPRO BIVS BVR RVS on the sides engraved. The deciphering is very
easy: M.(arcus) Probius Burrus, i.e. Marcus Probius reddish. The second sepulchre hillock was empty, but
in the first sepulchre hillock important finds were done. Beside shards in bronze, iron, ivory, glass and
ceramics one found a silver vase, a source circular medallion (fibula circularis), an engagement ring
(anulus pronobus) with the inscription Concordi communum, abbreviations of concordiae communi (as a
reminder to our understanding). The most splendid piece was however a cameo, which had to be manufactured
by the Greek Dioscorides. It's an oval sardonyx stone, existing from three layers of several colours with treated
golden frame. On the cameo you can see the portrait of a young man in milk blank relief on a dark red context.
One thought that it was the young emperor August. On the 27th of September 1894 the cameo was sold to baron
Edm for the then astronomic amount of 30,000 BEF. In 1940, one estimated the value already on a half million BEF.
(About $19326,-)