Busacca Gallery

A FINE BRONZE TERRET RING WITH INSCRIPTION. Syria or Holy Land, ca. early-mid 1st millenium BC. The heavy cast ring a rein guide for a chariot, with knob and bow ornamentation, one side with hatch and x designs, the other with two circular stamps and a four character inscription. 3.6 x 3.8 inches. Very rare and deserving of further study. Nearly identical in form to another in a German private collection though with a different inscription. This is a featured art consignment piece. All collectibles are curated distinguishable art objects from top end collections. We’ve built an exceptionally sophisticated safe infrastructure with a proven consignment management system featuring high quality visual art and antiques, for both buyers and sellers. All published works of art must be unique & rare  in order to receive an invitation to join our exclusive gallery forum. You can reach us if you have any questions. 415-776-0104

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal. The discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were better than previously possible. Tools, weapons, armor, and various building materials, like decorative tiles, made of bronze were harder and more durable than their stone and copper ("Chalcolithic") predecessors. Initially bronze was made out of copper and arsenic to form arsenic bronze. It was only later that tin was used, becoming the sole type of bronze in the late 3rd millennium BC. Tin bronze was superior to arsenic bronze in that the alloying process itself could more easily be controlled (as tin was available as a metal) and the alloy was stronger and easier to cast. Also, unlike arsenic, tin is not toxic.



The earliest tin-alloy bronzes date to the late 4th millennium BC in Susa (Iran) and some ancient sites in China, Luristan (Iran) and Mesopotamia (Iraq).

Copper and tin ores are rarely found together (exceptions include one ancient site in Thailand and one in Iran), so serious bronze work has always involved trade. In Europe, the major source for tin was Great Britain's deposits of ore in Cornwall, which were traded as far as Phoenicia in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Though bronze is generally harder than wrought iron, with Vickers hardness of 60–258 vs. 30–80, the Bronze Age gave way to the Iron Age; this happened because iron was easier to find and easier to process. Bronze was still used during the Iron Age, for example officers in the Roman army had bronze swords while foot soldiers had iron, but, for many purposes, the weaker wrought iron was found to be sufficiently strong. Archaeologists suspect that a serious disruption of the tin trade precipitated the transition. The population migrations around 1200–1100 BC reduced the shipping of tin around the Mediterranean (and from Great Britain), limiting supplies and raising prices. As ironworking improved, iron became cheaper; and as cultures advanced from wrought iron to forged iron, they learned how to make steel, which is stronger than bronze and holds a sharper edge longer.