**Originally Listed At $400**

Near East, Holyland, ca. 500 BCE to 400 CE. A pottery stamp seal with a rectangular face incised with 3 ancient characters. The handle is reinforced with side bars that also form suspension holes to wear this stamp on a belt. This may have been a bread stamp, such stamps were used to indicate many things - to label dough when baking in a communal oven, to certify a bakery or loaf weight, to denote bread for ceremonies and religious use, and maybe to mark kosher breads in Jewish communities. The linear script may be a form of Aramaic which Hebrew is descended from. Size: 2" L x 0.75" W x 1.6" H (5.1 cm x 1.9 cm x 4.1 cm)

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private prominent Daryl Kulok collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 2000s

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#176534

Chips to handle and stamp face, otherwise intact without repairs.