Sale: CNG 61, Lot: 2719. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 25 September 2002.  Sold For $280. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ARMENIA. Circa 3000 BC. Bronze votive bracelet in the Vasbouragan (Van) Armenian style . The terminals end with an eight-pointed sunburst or star pattern. Found at Toprak-Kalet, modern Turkey. Good condition with earthy green patina. ($200)

From the Manuel Panossian Collection.

The earliest history of Armenia was a continuous struggle for independence against its powerful neighbours, first Babylonia and later, Assyria, Persia and Turkey. This struggle has been preserved in the historical memory of the Armenians themselves in the allegorical strife between their god-king Ara and Semiramis. The certificate which accompanies the bracelet, dated 22.11.1987, from Prof. A. Ebeyan of Beirut, Lebanon, states that there are similar pieces in the museum of Erevan in Armenia and that the eight-pointed sunburst or star pattern is a symbol of the god Ara = Arad. It also attests that the symbol can be seen on early Sumerian cylinder seals at the Louvre and that the Sumerians are of Armenian origin.