Obj. ID: 37575
Sacred and Ritual Objects Amulet, Ukraine, circa 1900
The following description was prepared by William Gross:
This is an example of a type of inexpensive, easily cast lead amulet that has only recently come to light. The disovery came because of extensive use of metal detectors by amateur explorers in the FSU, primarily in the Ukraine, where such amulets have been uncovered in both quantity and variety. In the Gross Family Collection there are more than 60 different variations. It is clear that they were a very popular protective talisman, worn by numberous Jewish children.
This example is a fragmentary portion of a round amulet, but there is sufficient material to see that this is an example of a round "Heh' type amulet created for a male child to be hung around his neck on a string or chain. This example is in very poor shape and the inscriptions are not readable. Visible in the center of the obverse is the single letter "Heh" of the monogrammaton and a portion of the "growth" formula around it. What remains on the reverse is different that any of the other round lead amulets in the Gross Family Collection.
sub-set tree:
Lilientalowa, Regina. Dziecko żydowskie. Kraków: Polska Akademia Umiejȩtności, 1927. P. 46