Featured Roman Glass Unguentarium

Hi guys,

finally got my first authentic Roman Glass piece. It‘s a small Unguentarium. It measures ~63x18mm and weighs only ~3.1g. It‘s incredibly light and thin-walled glass, typical for the romans. There’s also a pontil mark on the bottom. The bottle partly shows a wonderful rainbow iridescence, which varies in colour.

It shows every aspect of an authentic piece:

• thin, lightweight glass
• typical Unguentarium shape
• Very clean and nice craftsmanship, rim carefully folded inwards
• Natural rainbow iridescence, varying in colour and shape. It‘s also build in layers and slightly flakes off
• the colour is a rarer one, but it‘s known to be produced by the romans

I absolutely love this piece, especially the colour. It’s a soft golden yellow hue, reminds me of copal. It’s much lighter and less orange than amber.


The seller dates this piece to 200-300 AD. If you could add any information, it would be nice


Now I need something like a small stand and a display case, any recommendations?


Thanks a lot,

Simon

 

If you google acrylic display stands for museum you might find something that will secure it. I checked lots of sites for acrylic displays and did not find much. Humidity is ancient glass' enemy speaking from experience. If you plan on collecting more you might invest in an IKEA display cabinet .My daughter has this one so she could lock in when kids were young but also for when one has visiting kids.They have a variety to choose from

 

Thank you, I will check this out. In some auctions I saw some kind of wire-stand which are pretty nice. Don’t know where to buy them.
I also found small showcases for action figures and small cars. But without a stand it just lays in there.

 

Oh, that's right as rain, isn't it. Lovely.Maybe look at a lit paperweight stand.

 

I have always wanted a piece of real Roman glass.That is lovely.

 

Mine is flat bottomed. So I can stand up in China cupboard.

 

Go for it Roman Unguentaria are not that rare. I paid 100$ plus shipping and VAT, so they are affordable as well. Made a pretty good deal on this one. The more usual and small pieces (like mine) seem to range from 100$ to 400$. Bigger and more elaborate roman glass pieces are pretty costly, though.

That’s a nice one! Shape and colour are awesome!

 

I've some nice silver jewellery set with Roman glass. Combines two obsessions.

 

You could hang it.
This idea ... (not razer but your bottle of course)