A Votive Inscription

CNG 94, Lot: 865. Estimate $300. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

WESTERN BLACK SEA REGION. Circa 2nd to 4th centuries AD. Æ Votive Dedication Plaque. Cast slightly curved bronze dedication plaque with simple stepped base, inscribed [...]ΛA.../ΛΙΚΑωN KE MA/PTIAΛΙC ΕΥΞΑΜ/ΕΝΟΙ ANEΘΕΚ/EYTOIXωC ([(For)...] Likaon and Martialis, having made a vow, set up [this] with good fortune). Dimensions: 92mm wide overall; 53mm high at highest point; 4mm wide at side edge (7mm at base), diminishing to 2mm thick across plate. Overall weight is 96.80 g. Holes for mounting on a statue base or cippus located at base of plate on either side. Upper portion of plate, which name the dedicatee in full, separated in antiquity; plate also punctured in antiquity. Cf. http://www.utexas.edu/courses/introtogreece/lecture01/E%20inscription0001140206.jpg (for a Classical Greek example); cf. http://www.bmimages.com/preview.asp?image=00032695001&imagex=11&searchnum=0001 (for a bronze tabula ansata in Latin). Good condition, green and red patina, upper portion broken and lost in antiquity, evidence of puncture in antiquity.