Station Necklace

THE NECKLACE Mohenjo-Daro

In 1950, five years after Brigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler married (for the third time) Margaret Norfolk, he gifted his wife a necklace of seven strands single bronze metal of great antiquity. The couple was visiting Simla then. This is the beautiful hill-station in northern India, where they were married five years ago. Margaret proudly showed the necklace to an Indian friend by explaining that Mortimer said the necklace would bring him luck. "Third time lucky!" Was that Mortimer had said when he gave the necklace referring to his two previous marriages Tessa died in 1936, and Mavis de Vere Cole, whom he divorced her in 1942 for cheating on him. Later in 1954, Mavis has also served a prison sentence, after reaching reputation for shooting Lord Vivian in the abdomen with a pistol.

Two years later in 1952, after Mortimer was knighted, Margaret (for reasons unknown) gifted the necklace to his girlfriend India. The Indian lady believes Margaret cherished a superstition that the artifact should not leave the subcontinent. "It was lucky for him and Leslie. I think he has reached his goal," said Margaret everything. Alcock Leslie Mortimer was an assistant on the site of Mohenjo Daro excavation (Moen-jo-daro Sindhi to be "the hill of the dead") when the necklace was found.

If Mortimer said that this discovery the collar must have been owned by the Archaeological Department of Pakistan with figures of the dancer and the priest-king (Brahmin priest), pottery, toys, seals, tools, weapons and Many other such objects discovered at Mohenjo-Daro. Today is a privately owned family in Simla.

What this necklace is unique is that it is at least 4500 years, Mortimer Wheeler had discovered in a clay pot in a REM "attic" area of the site of Mohenjo Daro excavation of the Indus civilization, now in Pakistan.

Interesting details on the collar

The ancient city of Mohenjo-daro was built around 2600 BC and was abandoned around 1900 BC. Even a conservative estimate of the age of the collar would be more than 3900 years, but according to Mortimer more likely to be about 4500 years, based on fragments of pottery and the level of the excavation site was discovered from. This is among the oldest in the world necklaces. The necklace has a clasp in the shape of S with seven strands, each about 4 feet long, nuggets bronze metal beads as the connection of each arm of the "S" watermark. Each bead is smaller than the size of a grain of pepper and has many facets. Each strand is between 220-230 and there are nuggets about 1600 chips in total. The necklace weighs approximately 250 grams. An article on this necklace has been reported in the newspaper The Hindu in India, dated January 13, 1996. In 2002, a prize of 80,000 pounds sterling was offered for the collar by a private collector from the United Kingdom. Since its involvement so far has not been claimed by Pakistan, he had hoped to buy the antique necklace for his personal collection, but the old Indian lady refused to part with them.

The string of Mohenjo Daro was exposed during the Dubai Festival in 2006 and recently at an exhibition of Antiquities in New Delhi once again raise speculation that it might be available for purchase. For reasons of convenience the owner's name has been withheld.