Contents and Arrangement Collection View
Description:

Consists of stone seals donated by Moses Taylor Pyne. Please see individual items for more detailed descriptions.

Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.

Description:

Consists of stone seals donated by Robert Garrett. Please see individual items for more detailed descriptions.

Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.

Description:

Consists of stone seals donated by Edward D. Balken. Please see individual items for more detailed descriptions.

Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.

Scope and Contents

The Manuscripts Division holds a total of 244 stone seals from Mesopotamia, Syria, and other areas of the ancient Near East. The seals are in three collections, respectively assembled and donated by Moses Taylor Pyne (1855-1921), Class of 1877; Robert Garrett (1875-1961), Class of 1897; and Edward D. Balken (1874-1960), Class of 1897. The seals range in age from Sumerian and Akkadian examples of the 2nd and 3rd millennia BCE to Persian examples of the pre-Islamic Sassanian period. The stone seals are primarily cylinder seals and stamp seals carved from hematite, serpentine, steatite, chalcedony, chlorite, lapis lazuli, quartz, and other varieties of stone.

Superscripts are displayed in curly braces.

Arrangement

The seals are numbered in three series: 1) Pyne, nos. 31-134; 2) Garrett, nos. 1-49, 136-143; and 3) Balken, nos. 1-77 (excluding 74, which is skipped.) In addition, there are 6 seals without accession numbers.

Acquisition:

The seals were gifts of Moses Taylor Pyne (Princeton Class of 1877), Robert Garrett (Princeton Class of 1897), and Edward D. Balken (Princeton Class of 1897).

Appraisal

No appraisal information is available.

Processing Information

Folder inventory added by Feng Zhu '14 in 2012.

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Stone Seals Collection; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/w66343707
Location:
Firestone Library
One Washington Road
Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
(609) 258-3184
Storage Note:
  • Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-18
Other Finding Aids

The finding aid is comprised of two unpublished preliminary listings: (1) Rudolf H. Mayr, "Preliminary Checklist of Stone Seals in the Princeton University Library"; and (2) Albrecht Goetze, "Mesopotamian Seals in the Collection of Robert Garrett." Cyrus H. Gordon wrote several brief articles relating in whole or part to the Princeton collections: "Seals from Ancient Western Asia," Princeton University Library Chronicle, vol. 12, no. 2 (1951), pp. 49-54; "Near Eastern Saeals and Cuneiform Tablets," Princeton University Library Chronicle, vol. 14, no. 1 (1952), pp. 45-46; "Near Eastern Seals in Princeton and Philadelphia," Orientalia, new series, vol. 22, fasc. 3 (1953), pp. 242-50, plates 57-70. There is also one stone seal in the Scheide Library and a substantial collection of stone seals in the Princeton University Art Museum.

Subject Terms:
Civilization, Assyro-Babylonian.
Seals (Numismatics) -- Iraq.
Seals (Numismatics) -- Middle East.
Genre Terms:
Seals (Numismatics).
Names:
Balken, Edward Duff, 1874-1960
Pyne, M. Taylor (Moses Taylor), 1855-1921
Garrett, Robert, 1875-1961
Places:
Iraq -- History -- To 634 -- Sources.