Late 1st century AD. A rectangular block with stamped mark 'LEGT I ITAL' (Legio I Italica) for 1st Legion 'Italic'. See Sarnowski, T., 'Die Ziegelstempel aus Novae' in Archaeologia, Warszawa, 1983, 43, pp.17-61; Kurzmann, R., 'Soldier, Civilian and Military Brick Production' in Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 24 (4), 2005, pp.405-414.2.1 kg, 27.5cm (10 3/4"). Property of an English collector; acquired in Netherlands before 2000. The Legio I Italica (of Italy) was a Roman legion formed by Nero on September 20, 66 or 67 and active until the 5th century AD. His emblems were the boar and sometimes the bull. The mobility of the Roman Army was surprising. From the eastern provinces and Africa there is more conclusive evidence that the army was involved in public buildings. There are many sources which name army officials employed in the supervision of the construction and reconstruction of temples, baths, city walls, towers and gates. CIL VIII 2728, for example, is a letter by an evocatus Augusti who was sent to solve engineering problems on a badly surveyed aqueduct at Saldae in the province of Numidia. Pliny (Epistulae X 17b, 39, 41, 61) repeatedly requested an army architect to be sent from Lower Moesia to help inspect some Bithynian building projects. Therefore it is not strange if tiles of a Legion are found all over the provinces. [No Reserve]