Sale: CNG 81, Lot: 1440. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 20 May 2009.  Sold For $220. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Agate intaglio with facing busts. Sasanian, 3rd-4th centuries AD. Intaglio seal engraved with confronted male and female busts on either side of an arched column. Length: 1.3 cm. Good condition.

Such depictions might have inspired the papal ring of Paul II (Pietro Barbo), published in Diana Scarisbrick, Les Bagues. Symbols de Richesse, de Pouvoir et d’Amour (Paris: Celiv, 1993), pp. 34-35.