Posted 02/20/2013 11:02 pm
Tessera were tokens, usually lead. My favorite are those wonderful brothel tokens (a google search will yield a few choice exmaples. I'm not even going to venture to post them here). But this is from Forvm's site:
"Tesserae are ancient tokens. Most were made from lead, but bronze and other materials were also used. They were used as tickets for theaters, gladiator fights, ferry passage and even brothels. Some were given as gifts by a King, the Roman emperor or a local government, perhaps to the poor as vouchers to exchange for food"
I found this and just marked it as a tessera. Most of the oxidation has been removed, you can see the pits on the reverse(?). Probably acid cleaned.
"Tesserae are ancient tokens. Most were made from lead, but bronze and other materials were also used. They were used as tickets for theaters, gladiator fights, ferry passage and even brothels. Some were given as gifts by a King, the Roman emperor or a local government, perhaps to the poor as vouchers to exchange for food"
I found this and just marked it as a tessera. Most of the oxidation has been removed, you can see the pits on the reverse(?). Probably acid cleaned.
