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Casting Doubt: Economic and Technological Considerations Regarding Metal Casting in the Ancient World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2011

Jack. M. Ogden
Jack. M. Ogden*
Affiliation:
Independent Art Research Ltd, 2 D'Arblay Street, London W1V 3FD, UK
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Abstract

The lost wax casting technique is almost impossible to use if the finished object must be of a specified weight or must utilize all of a given batch of metal. This basic fact helps to explain why Old World ancient gold jewelry, particularly of Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine origin, is almost always-hand wrought rather than cast. Similar considerations relate to the manufacture of copper-alloy weights or other objects which appear to be of pre-determined weight.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 185: Symposium G – Materials Issues in Art and Archaeology II , 1990 , 713
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1990

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References

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