Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 2nd to 3rd century CE. A playful pair of Roman six-sided dice, hand carved from ancient bovine bone - one with a dark gray hue and the other green (perhaps due to contact with a copper rich object or possibly glazed), with each die displaying the numerical values of one through six. These playful gaming objects highlight the universality of gaming across cultures and centuries! Just imagine the ancients tossing them to generate a random combination of numbers! Well-preserved and perfect for your next game of Backgammon! Size of largest (green): 0.4" L x 0.45" W x 0.375" H (1 cm x 1.1 cm x 1 cm)

See 2 more green-colored bone dice at the University of Michigan's Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, accession numbers KM 88615 and 88616.

Provenance: private Dahlonega, Georgia, USA collection; ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Byblos Antiques, London, England, acquired ca. 1992 to 1993

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#181219

Both items have minor nicks and abrasions to faces and corners, with light encrustations within some drilled numerical circles, otherwise intact and very good. Nice earthen deposits throughout.