Old scarab - pottery or stone?

Does this scarab look like stone or pottery? It's glued to a small 2" piece of marble so I can't see the bottom. It's fairly large - about 1" long x 1/2" high x 1/2" wide. There was probably felt lining the bottom of the marble but it's gone, leaving some paper residue. I'm thinking it is was a souvenir desk item from the 20s or 30's when Egyptian artifacts were all the rage. Any ideas appreciated.

 

They were also all the rage when the traveling King Tut exhibition was making the rounds in the 1960s & again in the 70s, not to mention as souvenirs of trips to Egypt. Could be steatite, clay (faience) or wood. Could we see inside the drill hole?

 

It's not wood. It sounds like clay when I tap it. Do you think I should try to soak it off the marble base? I'd like to see the bottom of it and I can always re-glue it back on. I don't want to pry it off because it could chip or crack.

 

Looks faience.

 

It looks like pottery to me, too.

I'm wondering why there's a hole?

 

I've seen them even attached to Egyptian silver rings. Clay beads (used virtually on everything). The ring was dated to the 70s, by the hallmark. Unless something an expert can see that dates this to antiquity, it's likely a souvenir of that same time.

Btw, if it is an ancient find ... that glue glob sure ruined it. The older glues might have been animal glue based, so try heating it with a hair dryer if you want to experiment getting it off.

 

I assumed the hole didn't run all the way through. If it does, then I'd guess it was meant to be a bead used in jewelry.

 

check it. slide a paperclip into it and see if it goes through. But the problem is, it still might not be diagnostic... because... the copy copies the bead found in a museum.

In fact, even though yours is glued to a marble piece, I might even bet that you find that the bottom side of your scarab has an inscription ... just like the scarab faience beads from other periods.... because originally the copy was intended to replicate hieroglyph characters to simulate their purpose as a stamp ... i.e., my guess is that because the original souvenir 'copy' started with 'all' the features of the antiquities found in museum, then as time wore on and tourists loved the scarab, and since the makers didn't know what they would be used for ...beads, curio shop paperweights, etc,... they just continued to make them with the underside incised too... 'multi-purpose'... even if they were just to be glued to a marble surface. so that won't help you date it much either. Just my take.

 

If the hole goes through, I bet someone just liked the way it looked and glued it onto the block. There's a good chance it's not all that old.

https://www.google.com/search?q=cla...xYXiAhVsneAKHfpEBvQQ_AUIDygC&biw=1093&bih=534

 

I pressed hard on the scarab and it popped off. I peeled off some of the brittle glue. Here's a picture of the back. Very cool inscriptions. I will soak off the rest of the glue. Maybe it will make a cool pendant? Thanks everyone.

 

Definitely would be a cool pendant.

 

I should've taken the bet!

btw, it's probably "Duco" glue. will come off with solvents, e.g. acetone, but make sure the glaze isn't affected by the acetone before you try it. probably can manually carefully remove the rest by prying with a very thin blade. Don't scrape.

 

I would suggest you don't soak too long. You might find it is actually plaster. The streaky appearance is not characteristic of genuine faience.

 

good advice.