500BC Ancient Phoenician Bronze Gilded Earring 15mm Single Leeched Loop COA For Sale

Ancient Phoenician Gilded Bronze Single Earring (15mm — Leeched Hoop Geometry)

Authenticity & Guarantee

• Provenance: Ex-private European collection, legally acquired from international sales; Ancient Phoenician / Levantine Sphere.

Item Specifications & Exact Dimensions

• Object: Complete Cast Bronze Single Earring with Trace Gilding

• Culture / Period: Phoenician / Iron Age Levantine Maritime Sphere

• Date Range: Circa 800 BC – 500 BC (First Millennium BC)

• Dimensions: 15 mm Height

• Material: Heavy Cast Bronze (Copper Alloy) with trace gilding / golden surface highlights

• Form & Architecture: Single "leech"-style (sanguisuga) crescent hoop featuring a thickened, swollen lower body tapering upward into a thin, curved ear-wire suspension arm designed to latch into the opposing socket terminus; engineered as a high-status piece of personal adornment

• Condition: Exceptional, complete ancient condition. Intact thin suspension wire, solid structural integrity, and a vivid golden-brass to dark charcoal-olive burial patina with natural earthen encrustations. Free of modern restoration or tooling.

Phoenician Maritime Metalworking & Personal Adornment

The Phoenicians were famed across the ancient Mediterranean for their unmatched mastery of metallurgy and jewelry crafting. Operating from coastal centers such as Tyre, Sidon, and Byblos, Phoenician metalsmiths produced distinctive personal ornaments that blended Levantine, Egyptian, and Aegean artistic influences for elite trade networks.

Leech-Shaped (Sanguisuga) Earring Typology

The swollen crescent or "leech" profile was a premier earring form in the Iron Age Mediterranean. Designed to maximize visual mass while remaining lightweight when worn, these crescent hoops were cast or forged in copper alloy and often fire-gilded to resemble solid gold. The tapering wire mechanism allowed the ornament to be securely hooked through the earlobe.

Typological Analysis & Exact Classification

• Primary Class: Ancient Phoenician Personal Jewelry / Earring

• Sub-Class: Swollen Crescent / Leech-Shaped (Sanguisuga) Hoop Class

Comparable Archaeological Examples & Museum Accession Numbers

• Louvre Museum (Inv. No. AO 4821): Phoenician bronze and gilded leech-shaped earrings from Byblos.

• British Museum (Accession No. 1888,0920.14): Ancient Levantine/Phoenician bronze swollen hoop earring.

• Metropolitan Museum of Art (Accession No. 74.51.3283): Phoenician / Cypriot Bronze Age-Iron Age crescent earring.