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TURKMENIA / BACTRIA c. 2000 BC. A round steatite s

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TURKMENIA / BACTRIA c. 2000 BC. A round steatite stamp seal with a ten-petal rosette on one side which apparently was inlaid in antiquity. The other side depicts a walking nude hero, his arms akimbo, and his hair in a pigtail. The edge was pierced three times leaving six small holes for suspension of for dangling beads. The man appears to have been drawn by the artist at a later date than the rosette. Unpublished type. D: 45mm. See G. Ligabue, Bactria, Venice, 1988, p. 168, fig. 13. The piece is intact and virtually perfect and very rare. The seal may have started as a rosette in Turkmenia and in the course of time found its way East to Bactria where a celator engraved the man.

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