Two Tokens in the Shape of a Plucked Goose
Roman, 1st - 2nd century A.D.
Bronze
Length: 5.4 cm & 5.5 cm
Width: 1.9 cm
Depth: 0.7 cm
Price on Request
Net for Export
Two flat bronze plaques shaped like a plucked and trussed bird, probably a goose. The engraved lines on the reverse probably represent the string used to tie up the bird. The Roman numeral III is inscribed in the center. Plaques or tesserae with numbers are usually interpreted as admission tokens for theaters or baths, lottery tokens, or gaming counters. Such objects were made in a variety of shapes, including animals. Exact parallels for this goose form were found in various sites, for instance in the legionary camp at Mainz/Mogontiacum (made of bone), at Ostia, and in a grave find in Athens. These tokens are often found in sets, leading scholars to propose that they served as lots to determine the seating order at Roman banquets (triclinia). If so, the goose shape may allude thematically to the banquet setting. Intact.
PROVENANCE
Formerly priv. coll. Julien Bessonneau (1842-1916), Angers (see succession inventory, 1916, probably no 316). Thereafter, priv. coll. Jean-Pierre et Liliane Leveilley, Angers; acquired ca. 1970-1980 from the heirs of Julien Bessonneau.
NOTE
For the type, cf. G. Behrens, Römische Lose in Tiergestalt, Germania 24, 1 (1940), pp. 20–22, pls. 4–7. In the grave find from Athens (National Museum, inv. 3738), twelve bronze plaques of the goose type (engraved with the numerals I to XII) were originally arranged on a twelve-pointed silver plate. For further animal-shaped tesserae inscribed with Roman numerals, cf. A. S. Walker, Animals in Ancient Art from the Leo Mildenberg Collection, Part III (Mainz 1996), pp. 12–14, nos. 15a–b (shrimps) and 17a–b (dolphins); pp. 50 f., no. 71 (hens). Numerous specimens are preserved in the Kestner Museum, Hanover, including examples of our type.

