5th-6th century A.D. Discoid with central void and portion of the shank embedded; inscribed with Greek characters '+AEB ? BEPETEAI'. Cf. Tal, O., Piasetzky-David, M., ‘Inscribed Spindle Whorls from a Byzantine Burial Cave at Yavne-Yam, Israel’ in Israel Exploration Journal, vol.70, no.1 (2020), pp.106-113, for similar example in stone (basalt). 2.66 grams, 18 mm (3/4 in.).

Acquired on the London, UK, art market in the 1990s. From a gentleman's private collection.

Similar objects could have been manufactured to look like spindle whorls, while they were in fact used as beads and/or amulets. The current evidence may suggest that these items were burial goods for females. They are sometimes seen incised with Greek letters and symbols that seem to suggest a cryptic onomata barbara formula. In this context, they can be viewed as mystical objects with the function of transmitting a message to the Other World, and the sheer mass of letters intended to convey the idea of an authoritative communication inaccessible to ordinary human being. [No Reserve]