A ring believed to contain an image of Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, sold for $145,000 in a recent auction in Birmingham, England. The initial estimate was well below that figure.

Plotina was an empress of Rome and wife to emperor Trajan- learn about her, her history, and her impact on the city of Rome here.

Dress-pin in the form of a carved sapphire and wrought gold bust representing a woman with elaborate hairstyle. Curiously, a child's face is carved into the back of the woman's hair. The bust is supported on a modern gold pedestal.

Three-layered sardonyx cameo engraved with confronted portrait-busts of two members of the imperial family as Jupiter Ammon and Juno-Isis; the female resembles the princesses of the imperial house of Gaius (Caligula) or Claudius.

Medallion, ivory, Pope Clement XI, Italian (Rome), ca. 1707-21