Featured Design - Open Roman Collar in Gold and Glass

Featured Design:

Open Roman Collar in gold and glass

The center of this collar necklace is open, for more than one reason.

In ancient Roman society, jewelry was used as a means for wealthier citizens to showcase their assets - both financial and physical. But like many things, such jewelry could be a blessing or a burden, depending on how it was used. 

We know from archaeological research that jewelry made from fine materials like gold and gemstones was often worn by both men and women as a display of wealth and status - but slaves were sometimes afforded jewelry as well. Such jewelry was used to enhance a slave's appearance, making the slave seem more attractive and therefore worth more money. It was also worn by slaves show that slave owners could not only afford jewelry for themselves, but could also afford to adorn their slaves with precious and beautiful items.

However, not all Roman jewelry was meant to enhance attractiveness or display wealth. Researchers believe that roughly 20-30% of the people living in ancient Rome were enslaved by wealthier, free citizens. However, slavery at that time was based on conquest rather than race; most slaves had either been part of a village or area that was conquered during a military campaign, or were born into slavery by such parents. Because slavery was not necessarily based on skin color or race, it was more difficult for citizens to distinguish between a slave and a free Roman citizen. To set their slaves apart, wealthy owners often had a collar forged of iron, bronze, or other strong metals around the slave's neck without any clasp, in order to prevent the slave from ever removing the collar against the owner's will. Such collars could be inscribed with words explaining that the slave was "property" of a wealthier, free owner, and sometimes even offered a reward if the slave were to be returned to that owner. For example, one such inscription on an ancient slave collar displayed in a Roman museum, once translated, reads:

I have run away. Catch me. If you take me back to my master Zoninus, you will be rewarded.

To Roman slaves, such jewelry was more of a curse than an adornment. It prevented the slave from running away and starting a new life of freedom. 

As fashion will do, fashion trends of the time became associated with the larger culture of ancient Roman society, and eventually the Romans established a fashion of wearing similarly tight necklaces (also called collars)  with an obvious break in the center of the piece, or else with a large and obvious clasp. The break or clasp in the collar was likely worn in front rather than behind the neck, to show that the wearer could remove the collar any time s/he pleased, thus displaying to the world that the wearer was a free person, and not anyone's slave. These "free collars" could be made from similar metals, or - if the wearer could afford it - made from gold and gems, as we see in costumes of the period.

Kalla Designs Interpretation:

We took the concept of the "free collar" from past to present to create this Open Roman Collar, a necklace that both acknowledges the history of Western culture and represents the beauty of our freedom today.

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A delicate ring of golden wire encircles the neck, and is capped on each end with large turquoise and saffron colored blown glass beads. Genuine freshwater pearls, dyed a soft amber color, add detail to the open front of the necklace.

To see more or purchase your own "freedom collar" click HERE.

Want to see more costumes and stories about ancient Rome? I recommend Rome, Spartacus, Spartacus: Blood and Sand