Featured Egyptian bead

Good day
A friend of mine ask if I could get information about this bead. It seems to have Egyptian hieroglyphs on it.
Groete
Jannie

 

Your "bead" appears to be a cylinder seal. These were used in ancient Mesopotamia as signatures of ownership. They were rolled over small pats of soft clay to leave an impression. The clay would then be attached to bundles of goods, etc.

You could try rolling it over a piece of play dough or polymer clay to get a clear image of the impression.


https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/329090

 

Interesting! More than a bead, it appears to be a cylinder seal!
Try to roll it on a band of modeling paste to see the motif imprint.
Edit: ha! Sniped by 2manybooks

 

That is so cool!

 

SO COOL & I LOVE IT!!!!

 

Very!

 

Very interesting! What is the size of this? Relatively small?

 

Another photo for size

 

Pretty bitty, come to it. Perfect for "letter" signing.

 

Thanks

 

What a nice piece. Thank you for sharing, I have never seen such a thing

 

I've Hindu friends who wear similar.

 

You may keep an eye on this one
https://picclick.fr/sceau-cylindrique-antique-scène-de-combat -354026055403.html

 

I have a Hittite cylinder seal. Some of them can be worth $1,000 . There are several cylinder seal research sites . I wish I could find the one that is collecting impressions of seals as a way of preserving them for research. i will have to do some digging. I found it once. They were used as signature but also as a talisman for the wearer. I like the way yours is mounted. I am going to get mine mounted and will save your image as an idea. That is what I had in mind.

 

Suspect once upon a time, some gent wore this as a watch fob, but as already stated by all, a cylinder seal. Ancient or repro, beyond me to tell. You might want to contact a museum antiquities department. The imagery is surely distinctive of some place/time.