An extraordinary and fragile Roman glass bowl, dating from circa A.D. 300, broke the world record price for a piece of glass sold at auction July 14th in London. Selling to a telephone bidder at Bonhams' Sale of Highly Important Antiquities, The Constable-Maxwell Cage-Cup fetched £2,646,650. It was once used as a lamp and had been carved from a solid piece of glass.
Following the sale, Joanna van der Lande, head of antiquities at Bonhams, said: "The Cage-Cup is exceptionally fragile, cut from a single block of glass. It would have been clear but has become iridescent due to a reaction between the earth it was buried in and the glass. Its probable use was as an oil lamp suspended by a collar around the rim. It's really a very highly prized piece."
The cup was last sold in 1997 as part of a collection formed for investment purposes by the British Rail Pension Fund. At that time, the cup sold for £2,311,500.
