Seventh century CE Roman coin jewelry

More interesting artifacts from the collections of the Dumbarton Oaks Museum in Washington D.C. photographed by my friend Allan Gluck - seventh century eastern Roman gold coin bracelets with each composed of a solidus (a gold denomination struck seventy-two to the Roman pound) surrounded by four tremissi (one third of a solidus). Coin jewelry, worn by the elite of ancient Greece and Rome, enjoyed a revival in what is often referred to as early Byzantine times with some pieces made of medallions or pseudo-coins, while others, like these made of real coins. The curators of the museum observe:

"The use of money in jewelry expresses in literal terms what is always true of jewelry, that it operates as social currency, displaying and negotiating the wearer’s position. The wearer of these bracelets, almost certainly male, was displaying his superior social status through the precious materials, and may even have been hinting at a certain relationship to the court of the emperors depicted on the coins.

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

7th century CE coin bracelet depicting eastern Roman emperors including Phocas and Heraclius photographed at the Dumbarton Oaks Museum by Allan Gluck

"The dating of Byzantine jewelry is difficult, but in this case there are two clues. One is the reigns of the emperors named on the coins, Maurice Tiberius (582–602), Phokas (602–10), and Herakleios (610–41), which indicate that the earliest possible date is 610, the accession of Herakleios. The other clue is technical. Both the construction of the hoops of tubular gold decorated with tiny rows of beading, as well as the use of trefoils to fill the gaps between the coins, are known from other seventh-century gold objects believed to have come from Antinoe in Egypt. If this is true, the bracelets probably date before 640, when Arab rule began asserting itself."

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