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LOT 1648
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Stirrup Apex Mount
11TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/2 in. (27.36 grams, 39 mm).
Of Williams's Class B Type 3 Group 1 with openwork plaque, bear-head beneath two opposed wolf-heads, angled ledge with ferrous fixing studs. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFound Suffolk, UK.
LiteratureCf. Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, York, 1997, item 420.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Viking Stamped Silver Spoon with Loop
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
Comprising a broad shallow bowl and a flat triangular handle with stamped triangle ornament; suspension loop with coiled ends. 11.3 grams, 90 mm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. -
Pre-Viking Gold Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, the body decorated with granule clusters. 1.49 grams, 15 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK.
Pendants in the form of miniature buckets have been found in a number of pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking contexts and are generally made of bronze or iron, with gold examples being rare; three gold examples were found with the hoard from Hoen, Norway. Bronze bucket amulets have been found at Driffield in Yorkshire, and Vimose bog in Denmark, among other places. In form they represent wooden buckets bound with bronze or iron bands which have been found in Anglo-Saxon and Viking graves and are believed to have held mead or ale and were used to replenish the cups from which warriors drank. As amulets they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Stirrup Mount with Pseudo-Runes
11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £72
Williams's Class A Type 1 with trapezoidal plaque and narrow ledge to the rear; incised geometric design following the outline of the mount with symmetrical panels; to the neck five vertical lines, perhaps pseudo-runes. 19.88 grams, 50 mm
Property of a gentleman; acquired in the 1970s.
The markings on the neck appear to conform to the shapes of four runes, being inverted chevrons to the edges (runic 'U'), a character of two verticals and a sloping cross-bar (runic 'H'), and a simple vertical stroke (runic 'I'). However, the outer chevrons are formed as the junction of the inner border with a vertical while the cross-bar appears to be a later abrasion. The form of 'H' with a single cross-bar is very early (2nd -5th century AD) and is almost unknown in England, while by the 8th century this form had been replaced in Scandinavia by a rune formed as a vertical with a small saltire to the centre (like an asterisk). It is nevertheless possible that these marks were intended as a form of pseudo-runic text.
