Of all the crosses in this collection, this one is by far the most intriquing and most probably the onee with the most history. The crucifix is a combination of ancient beauty as well as the mystery of it being a reliquary. A 16th century French word used to describe the crucifix, in this case means the crucifix, being made of two halves, could have a piece or part of something very symbolic of Christ contained within its hollow center. For this reason, it is effectively closed at each end so that no one could see or take the item. Two previously listed crucifixes were only one half of the original crucifix, the other half was probably either made into another crucifix, damaged or destroyed. This one is the whole enchilada and probably fairly rare.
The first photograph shows the entire cross with chain and a reasonably accurate depiction of the real artifact's true colors; the second photo was color-altered to show the inscribed design. In the third photo is the other side. There are several points of interest: it shows an indistinct design of five large circles, some smaller circles, possibly other design elements, all made difficult to identify because of active oxidation
This crucifix came out of a large collection where the original collector died over 30 years ago so, there is no way of telling where the crucifix originally came from. When the collection came into my possession, this crucifix was valued between $6,000 and $6,500 six years ago. The chain is believed to be an original chain or at the very least, one that was made a very long time ago. The measurements are approximately 2" (5.08 cm) across X 3" (7.32 cm) deep X 1/4" (.635 cm) thick. The chain is 18" (43.18 cm) long
CR 15.
On Feb-22-07 at 18:20:46 PST, seller added the following information:
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