Sale: CNG 72, Lot: 2766. Estimate $200.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 June 2006.  Sold For $250. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

[Jewelry and Ornaments] ROMAN. Jet good luck amulet. Circa 1st-3rd century AD. Length 30mm. Black jet carved amulet in the form of the hand and thumb “fig” gesture. Pierced for wearing. Cf. D. Morris, Bodyguards pp. 158-159. Choice condition, rare in this state of preservation.

From the Dr. Robert B. Beckett Collection.

Jet, a form of fossilized wood, is a soft precious stone with a metallic black lustre. The main source of the stone in the Greek world was near the town of Gagai in Lycia (from which comes the name jet). The discovery of large deposits of jet near Whitby in Yorkshire in Britain led to a wider use of the stone for jewelry and amulets in Roman times.