435, Lot: 401. Estimate $150. Sold for $750. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Rolanos(?). 5th-6th centuries AD. PB Token (14mm, 3.09 g, 6h). Menorah of seven branches, flanked by lulav and etrog / POΛA/NOY; palm frond above. Cf. Lanz 159, lot 654; cf. Baldwin’s 75, lot 2404 (monogram); Triton II, lot 1108 (monogram). VF, earthen deposits.

This lead object is clearly related to the series of late Roman/early Byzantine seals bearing a figural type on one side, with a legend in two lines in Latin or Greek on the other. Other seals with a menorah are also known, usually with a blank, globular reverse (cf. CNG E-245, lot 530 and CNG E-410, lot 103).

Byzantine tokens as a class are poorly understood and no good suggestions can yet be made as to their function. Many appear closely related to the seals, differing only in the absence of a cord or channel for attachment to a document, as with the present example.