No. 484.
A Cylinder of Gold Plate.
Sepulchre I. Actual size.
NUMEROUS GOLD BUTTONS.
Inclusive of the gold buttons already mentioned, there were found in this first tomb in all 340 such buttons, from most of which the wooden mould has disappeared, so that only the gold plates remain. Of these, eighty-four are plain and without any ornamentation; namely, thirty-five very large ones, being 2 in. in diameter, thirty-six of a less size, measuring 1½ in. in diameter, and thirteen small ones, measuring 1 inch or less. The remaining 256 gold buttons are ornamented with intaglio work. The total number consists of thirteen very large ones of 2 in. in diameter, thirty-nine of about 1½ in. and 194 of 1 in. or less, and eight large and two smaller ones, in form of crosses; making in all ten cross-shaped buttons, all of which have retained their wooden moulds. As before-mentioned, two of the cross-like buttons have each two small gold handles. Not to fatigue the reader, I give no engravings of the plain buttons, and even of the richly ornamented ones I represent in the accompanying plates only those whose ornamentation shows a variance from that of the types of the buttons of the Fourth Tomb. The reader may therefore take it for granted that, of the large buttons of this First Tomb, those represented under Nos. 485-491 are the only ones whose ornamentation exhibits new types.
On No. 485, we see around three concentric circles, and within a border of two circles, a star-like ornament with curved sides and obtuse points, each of the latter containing a small circle, the space between each curve and the border being filled up by a crescent and a small circle. In 486 we see six concentric circles around a magnificent central ornamentation of spirals of a new form; in the border an uninterrupted row of a sign which resembles the letter koppa.
Nos. 485, 486. Ornamented Gold Buttons. Sepulchre I. Actual size.
ORNAMENTED GOLD BUTTONS.