9th-12th century AD. A bifacial silver cruciform pendant with expanding arms and cut and polished discs of garnet(?) to the centre and terminal of each arm. Cf. Wamser, L., Die Welt von Byzanz - Europas Östliches Erbe, München, 2004, item 516, for discussion and a loosely comparable example made from gold. 8.2 grams, 31mm (1 1/4"). From the property of an Essex private collector; acquired in the early 1990s. Pectoral crosses, in the Christian Roman Empire, were worn as prophylactic elements against evil. They were often worn by the Roman soldiers of the Christian Empire for protection in battle and this tradition was inherited by all the Orthodox countries, like the Russia of the Czars.

Fine condition.