Roman Brooches From the
Antiquities_Science
group
While the initial focus is on whether an inscription on a brooch is modern or
ancient, this covers lots of ground regarding tools and brooch design and even a
list of books that deal with brooches.
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The Crossbow fibula was an enduring fibula and its primary success was due
to the fact that it wasn’t only a “dress accessory” but gave status and
was a characteristic of a distinctive social position. This particular
brooch, a typical male dress accessory was first introduced around 200AD
as clasps for the heavy military cloaks. But very quickly became an
official symbol of military and political rank.
The inscriptions on crossbow brooches are usually not signatures of makers
but “Imperial Inscriptions” or important meanings and are very rare.
I would like to differ between these rarer inscriptions and the Aucissa
type brooches that have been named by the markers signature moulded across
the head of the bow. Many of the Aucissa have no signature.
The main and most common signature is AVCISSA with some variants like
IIAVCISSA, IIIAVCISSA, IAVCIS.A, AVCIS.., AVCISS., AVCISSA (with reverse
SS) can be found.
An intersesting variant is AVCISSAF – Aucissa f(ecit) “Aucissa made
(this)”.
The Aucissa type brooches may carry some other names like AVVIMPI, ATGVIOS,
ATCIVIO. , TARRA, QCOM and AVVIMPI.
Some markers signatures have been also found on some Langton, Colchester
and Hod Hill types brooches.
A very nice list of Aucissa type brooches with markers signature of the
Illyrian area can be found in the Antiquities_
Inscribed Brooches found in Croatia
From some literature, I have found crossbow brooches with inscriptions to
be made of precious metal such as gold and silver, usually highly
decorated with geometric patterns and niello inlays.
Some examples of these Imperial Inscriptions are;
A gold crossbow brooch of the Museum of Turin which reads CONSTANTINE CAES
VIVAS ( May Constantine Caesar live).
From the Munich Museum a gold with niello inlay decorations the “Imperial
Inscription” on the bow reads on one side ROMULE VIVAS and on the other
MAXENTI VINCAS. These inscriptions have been interpreted as the name of
Maxentius and his infant son Romulus. Vincas/Vivas could mean someone
struggling for power as Vincas for the Augustus and Vivas for the Ceasar.
The MAXENTI VINCAS could be the acknowledgment of a loyal supporter in
winning the Tetrarchy.
http://ph.groups.
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Bronze crossbow brooches can be found with geometric patterns and
decorations, the evidence is well published.
Just a few examples.
http://ph.groups.
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A few photos on how some highly developed crossbow brooches can be
assembled
http://ph.groups.
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Some simple research can give us quite a lot of information, what is
missing is the lack of reference and published bronze crossbow brooches
with inscriptions on the bow.
We are certain that VTERE FELIX (Good Luck to the user) is correct,
parallels of this meaning is documented on brooches and I have managed to
find at least one parallel of FELIX inscribed on a bronze crossbow brooch.
N° 235
http://ph.groups.
But what style of writing can be seen from documented examples.
What style can be often seen on funeral inscriptions.
http://ph.groups.
Very often on authentic inscriptions the letters are square, cubic, more
even and neat like “punched”.
Comparing a few “imperial inscriptions” and the makers signatures moulded
on the AUCISSA type brooches, I think all these inscriptions were engraved
by means of chisels.
Bow drills were known in antiquity evidence of metal bits are documented
and they can be seen reconstructed in some museum displays.
http://ph.groups.
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some authentic inscriptions do seem to have been engraved by a bow drill
http://ph.groups.
But with this example we have a very uniform patina also seen in the
engraved groves, with some magnification also pitting is seen in the
grooves. Many inscriptions have a harmonious symmetry.
This style does seem a little different, the patina in the grooves don’t
seem all that correct and the engraving is superficial and a little
sloppy.
http://ph.groups.
So I came to the following conclusions, the bronze crossbow brooch seems
correct and authentic only the inscriptions have been recently added with
the aid of modern power tools and engraving bits.
In my opinion, well 90% sure it’s the rounded edges of the beginning of
the letter that gives it away, were the bit starts the engraving you have
that half circular entrance in forming the engraving groove. A slight
entrance at the beginning and the end, deeper in the middle. The engraving
groove itself is concave and superficial and in a few points I am pretty
sure the bit “slipped”. The tip of the 0,8mm engraving bits are spherical
and this machinery can be clearly seen.
If you have worked a little with a Dremmel 0,8 – 1mm engraving bit it
might be easier to understand what I meant. This photo with captions might
help.
http://ph.groups.
I have added another photo of an artefact that in my opinion has also be
manipulated with modern tooling Actually in my opinion this item is
modern, has been first engraved and then the tarnish and patina has been
chemically produced.
http://ph.groups.
Now to be 100% sure my only means would be a careful microscope
inspections, but a good 90% of reasons to doubt an artefact can be
achieved with some good photos and research.
If some new members take interest in brooches in the achieves they can
find a few more posts on the argument.
Cleaning Brooches with the aid of a microscope.
Message: 2749
http://tinyurl.
Enamel on Brooches
Message : 3002
http://tinyurl.
Regards
Roger
To see the article mentioned in Roger's post :
"Inscribed Brooches found in Croatia" (Viminacium Upper Moesia 55 Crossbow
Brooches.pdf ) subscribe to the Antiquities_
http://tech.
Many thanks.
All the best,
Jim
Dear Roger/Jim/List
First, thanks a lot to Roger for the very complete post. I would like to be so
constant as him!
Second: I agree with him that the inscription looks modern with a posterior
patina added.
If such fibulae are so important, and more with inscriptions, the inscription we
are talking about is carelessly done, and that does not agree with the rest of
item.
Also, patina, unless a trick of the photo in the recesses, looks completely
different than the rest.
Fibula could be legitimate. Inscription to be sure is modern, in my opinion
Reasons
-No care done, when the crossbow fibula is an important object. No artisan would
do this...
-the patina inside is different from the rest of the fibula. I would like to see
it in hand, but seems the product of an instant patina product
I hope that I could post the sanzhu fakes.
There you could see a very convincing patina (fake.... :-(
With best wishes
Lluís
These thoughts are very sound and I would agree with them. It is very
possible that the inscription is a modern one.
I was surprised to see the historic inscriptions that were apparently
produced with a drill bit! I am trying to imagine using the hand
drill shown as a model, to make an inscription in a bronze surface.
This seems difficult, to say the least.
Of course, I have never had the chance to use a hand drill like the
one pictured, so I can only try to imagine it. To my mind, a task
like that would be very, very difficult, if not impossible.
I would expect that the value of an artifact would increase through
an interesting inscription. This would be a good reason to fake one.
But, if it is possible, I would appreciate seeing some microscopic
images of the bronze surface inside and outside of the inscription
for comparison.
magpetermahler
Dear Peter: Thanks for your post.
As to your query about Dremmel hand tools
I am trying to imagine using the hand
> drill shown as a model, to make an inscription in a bronze surface.
> This seems difficult, to say the least.
> Of course, I have never had the chance to use a hand drill like the
> one pictured, so I can only try to imagine it. To my mind, a task
> like that would be very, very difficult, if not impossible.
These Dremmels come in various forms but most are straight cylindrical
instruments not much wider than a fat cigar and come with a multitude
of interchangeable heads of various forms (many of these heads are
conical sanding heads that come to a point).
With a little practice a Dremmel is no more difficult to use than a
ball-point pen.
Incidentally a Dremmel is quite handy for other issues and tasks we
deal with.
Two in particular that come to mind are preparing a surface for
metallography and in many different conservation issues.
I will see if I can find an Internet catalogue that not only shows the
body of the instrument but also the variety of the interchangeable
heads (which can go from fine drill bits, balls, cones, sandpaper,
tiny wire wheels and even buffers)
I know Roger is busy working on another project but hopefully he has
seen your post and will be posting some more photos soon.
Many thanks.
All the best,
Jim
Dear James,
thanks for the very iteresting discription! It is much appreciates. What an
amazing thing!
Of course I have heard of simular things used to work on wood and even to
produce fire. But to work on bronze? Never.
The picture in my mind is of having to use the bow in one hand and the drill in
another. How else could one use it?
I could imagine hooking a drill to a wheel and using it with the feet - like an
ancient potter would, when he produces pottery on the wheel. I have heard that
there might have been something like that in ancient China, used to work on
jade.
But by hand - this seems to be the hard part - controling the direction that it
goes - possible with the left hand, and at the same time moving the bow back and
forth - for example with the right hand. Drilling into bronze would also take a
lot of pressure at the same time, too. I am not sure if the "slipping marks"
shown in the photo could come to be that way.
just a few thoughts, along with my thanks for your mail and for this great
group.
best regards and greetings from Vienna,
Peter
Dear Peter,
This is the Dremel homepage depicting tools:
http://www.dremeleurope.com/dremelocs-uk/Category.jsp?ccat_id=469
You can see how engraving cutters for soft metal look like here:
http://www.dremeleurope.com/dremelocs-uk/Category.jsp;jsessionid=6CFEC7302E5082F584D32F5ED7C04826?&ccat_id=484
This is an image of a hard material engraving cutter:
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Antiquities_Science/photos/view/be08?b=1&o=2
As you can see, the soft cutters have some sort of tiny knives, the
harder ones are a grinding tool. Due to the traces I guess a soft
cutter was used for most of the modern inscriptions.
For engraving, I would fix the machine and use a flex shaft attachment
as shown on (LINK LOST) . When the piece
to work on is
fixed in the proper position, it's easy to use the engraving tool like
a pen.
Just for the record - an addition on Roger's post:
Some Langton Down brooch derivatives called 'Nertomarus type' also
have a maker's signature sometimes. Unfortunately I can't find an
image. This is where it is stated:
http://books.google.com/books?id=KbSIW__s2TEC&pg=RA3-PA103&lpg=RA3-PA103&ots=EspcQnoH4-&dq=nertomarus&output=html&sig=mTSkWkjiZt2ouomAim0KPHb-4OA&hl=de
(in
German). The name 'Nertomarus' is Celtic, such as 'Aucissa', and both
brooch types are from the first century AD. This is how a Nertomarus
brooch looks like:
http://www.aicim.be/main/fr/fiche.php?from=memb&provider=MCE&id=34180
(French page). This piece
has a marker's stamp, too ('CACCOS') with the lack of a picture.
renate
Dear Renate,
thank you for the interesting links.
I was not only thinking about modern tools as I wrote my lines, but also of
ancient ones, an example is shown in the link supplied by Roger:
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Antiquities_Science/photos/view/be08?b=15&m=s&o=0
This would be the kind of thing used in the distant past to do inscriptions.
This is also the image that caused me to think so much about the difficulties
involved in doing this. Imagine trying to use one of these to do an inscription
on bronze! It is - what is the word - mystifying.
best regards and greetings from Vienna,
Peter Mahler
Dear Roger,
I have looked at these examples already and find them amazing.
Thank you very much for the information. I keep on trying to imagine how
inscriptions were made with a bow powered drill, especially on such a small
surface, and have not yet come to any conclusion at all. I might just experiment
a bit in this direction one day, just to try it out. Thanks again for your
thoughts,
Peter
Dear Peter Mahler,
Yes, learning on how the Romans worked is interesting, but we don't
know much about their craftspersons and how they worked. Rogers
message helps to determine modern work from ancient by analyzing tool
traces. The weekend before last I visited an antique coin market of
high reputation - more than 90% of the brooches there were faked or
repaired without mentioning. So everything that helps on recognizing
modern work on so called ancient pieces is highly appreciated.
Rogers description of a drill borer (the one you linked) reminds me on
something an archeologist I regularly meet explained when I showed him
a tiny stone age flint tip I found recently. The design of stone age
borers for working on bones and amber is in fact nearly the same. I'll
take a photo of the borer tip, if you're interested.
renate
Dear Renate,
being able to distinguish modern tool marks from age old ones is really, really
important. I have been very interested in this subject for quite a while now.
The sad thing is that, in my case, I have not found that much information. So I
am looking for a date base of photos and information. Do you know of anything
out there that I could study?
I enclose a link that you might find interesting. Well, you probably know of
this already, no? After scrolling down the page a bit, you will be able to read
about a neat technique for producing images of tool marks (electron scanning
microscope images). Also you will find two nice photos comparing ancient with
modern tool marks on stone. And a few comments about revolving tools as well.
http://www.si.
best regards,
Peter
Presuming that the bronze was produced by the lost wax casting method it would have been so much easier to engrave the relatively soft wax model ( with a sharp stick or stylus ?), then to cast this in bronze so that the decoration is reproduced in the cast . Doing it the other way around and engraving directly into the tough metal seems very much like doing it the hard way ! It is obviously possible but must have taken many times longer to perform , and when cutting into metal you cannot rub out mistakes and start again like you can working on wax. Best wishes
Anthony
Dear Renate:
Thank you for your post and the link to pages to the book "Fibel and
Fibeltract" which I highly recommend.
On the subject of fibulas I also recommend the "UPA" series as well as
certain volumes of the Prahistorische Bronzefunde series.
I do want to mention Internet bookseller Andreas Bohrman/AntikMakler
is a great resource for purchasing hard to find books on artifacts.
(Go to either
http://www.antikmak
or
http://www.foldingb
A recent search of their site turned up 239 books on fibulas (in
German 'fibel') including books on their conservation and restoration.
Many thanks.
All the best,
Jim
Dear Jim,
Thanks for recommending the Antikmakler Shop. I'm a customer. The book
descriptions are very detailed, so you'll find books that mention
brooches on a few pages only, and books all on brooches at the same
time. Following the search for 'fibel' only, I found two books that
might be helpful on this topic. Thery're about cruciform brooches, I'm
not sure if they provide information about inscriptions on them:
- Reichstein, Joachim: Die kreuzförmige Fibel. (108,- EUR)
- Schulze, Mechthild: Die spätkaiserzeitlichen Armbrustfibeln mit
festem Nadelhalter (Gruppe Almgren VI,2). (47,05 EUR)
What's the "UPA" series, please?
renate
Dear Renate:
UPA is an abbreviation for "Universitatsforsch
Prahistorischen Archaologie" (please forgive my lack of use of
umlauts, I no longer have my German language keyboard).
The text in these books is quite good and they are well illustrated.
All the best,
Jim