3rd century AD. A hollow-formed D-section gold hoop with expanding shoulders, discoid plaque with a glass insert, intaglio design of Victory (Nike) holding a wreath and advancing towards a tropaion. 4.03 grams, 23mm overall, 18.01mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 3/4, Europe 16.55, Japan 16) (1"). Property of a West London gentleman; acquired before 2000. Cf. Ruseva-Slokoska, L. Roman Jewellery, Sofia, 1991, item 262 for type. A tropaion is an ancient Greek and later Roman monument set up to commemorate a victory over one's foes. Typically this took the shape of a tree, sometimes with a pair of arm-like branches (or, in later times, a pair of stakes set crosswise) upon which was hung the armour of a defeated and dead foe. The tropaion was then dedicated to a god in thanksgiving for the victory. It is from this that we get the word trophy.

Very fine condition.