sweasel.com

found this video in your image search…https://youtu.be/76AvV601yJ0

Something kids left on the floor, for their parents to step on when barefoot, before Legos were invented?

It’s a very early representation of a coronavirus, used as a talisman to ward off the evil germ.

This Martin guy seems to be able to envision the space and use it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poGapxsanaI

Are the six opposing pairs of same-size holes on one die the same sizes from die to die? Do the sizes on a single die vary regularly? I.e. proportionally (like distance between banjo frets) or incrementally (like sizes of sockets in a socket wrench set)? What is the sound of one gum flapping?

why not a gaming piece where the ‘hole’ is a value.

And as to a candle holder – sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s what it’s actually intended for.
We make drinking glasses or canning jars into candles, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t drinking glasses or canning jars.

being found with hoards of coins, might mean it’s something used to gamble.

Have any been found in the trunk of a car with a couple hundred thousand “I voted for Biden” ballots?

At the time these were made, I can think of a lot simpler ways to make a candleholder. The work involved in making them suggests that they would have had some significant value.

These dodecahedra are magical fetishes claimed to have the supernatural power to ward off the evil spells cast by any variety of asshole, thus they commanded a high price as evidenced by their presence among coins.

For gambling. Rolled, not thrown, with a certain size ball inside. The farther it rolls without the ball falling out, the better your score.

Most interesting is that they are NOT found in Italy…so far anyway. So a Roman adaptation of something developed by one of the other cultures they interacted and / or conquered? Maybe something useful for trade with the local tribes but not particularly useful or valuable in Rome. A religious item perhaps. I imagine the Roman version was a great improvement over anything similar made by your average Gallic or Celtic craftsman.

Heh – Gaming dice.

“You need a Giant Hole or better for your Optio to avoid a hit from the Kraken!”
“Oh stercore!”
“Tiny hole. Your Optio’s parma is shattered, his magic hasta is broken, but can be repaired if he survives, and he takes a -100 hit to his valetudo. Any magical items he possesses are ineffective for the next turn.”
“Stercore stercore stercore!”

” Wait! I have a save damage scroll in my saccus dorsualis!”
“No, he has to have read it before the attack!”
“You just hate Optio Philanderus! You’ve hated him since he escaped the Lemures in that Gallic ruin!”
“I’m the Domimus Dominus!”

I do like the idea of it being a glove loom. I want one.

*eyes narrowing*

Are you mocking gamers Durned? If not then please point me to that game, it sounds awesome.

Maybe it was for making the fingers for chainmail gloves?

@BJM – a short lived career as a DM. My brother and his “Stinky the dwarf” character made the job too much of a challenge.

Gamers I don’t mind, except the people who can’t distinguish games from reality. You know, like the kind of people we’re about to have running the government.

Coins were easily counterfeitted. Usually it was a size or shape issue that set it off. The things probably a go- no go gage for coins of the realm struck outside Italy.

Tinker-toy connector thingy…