Roman Jewelers And Lapidaries

(via Roman Book On Precious Stones: 1950) Sydney H Ball writes:

We must add a link with today, our friend the pawnbroker. Menander, an early writer of comedies (born 342 B.C) in his Arbitration, referring to the ring of one of his characters, states: ‘Or he may have been at dice and put the ring up as a stake: or perhaps he owed some debt and had no cash, and so paid with the ring. Hundreds of things like that happen at drinking bouts.’ Martial (86 A.D) describes a young Roman blade, faultlessly attired, seated in his sedan chair and accompanied by clerks and pages, who had just pledged a ring at Claudius, the usurer’s for eight sestertii to pay for his supper.’ Juvenal describes the spendthrift who, having used up his patrimony, has only his ring left:

‘At length when nought remains a meal to bring,
The last poor shift, off comes the knightly ring.’

Other’s pawned their plate. In Ptolemic time in Egypt an unfortunate importunes his friend, ‘Now please redeem my property from Sarapion. It is pledged for two minae.’ After stating that the interest is partly paid, he lists the property pawned. Two bracelets were also pawned with another pawnbroker, one Onetor.

Trogus Pompeius states that his father in the time of Julius Ceasar had as keeper of his cabinet of jewels (libertus a dactyliotheca Caesaris) one Julius Philargyrus. Hadrian also placed his large and valuable collection of jewels in charge of a dactyliotheca Caesaris; this collection was later sold by Marcus Aurelius (121-180 A.D) at public auction to more than successfully defray the cost of the war with the Marcomanni. Nor were gem collections confined to royalty as those of Maecenas and others show. Indeed as a patron of gem engravers and lovers, Maecenas was the Lorenzo de Medici of his time. The rich had a slave to see that the banquet guests did not pry the gems from the gold drinking cups which were used only on ceremonial occasions. All the emperors from Augustus to the later emperors and, we may add, their wives, had goldsmiths attached to their household staffs.