Details

LOT 0378

Hiberno-Viking Enamelled Bronze 'Balladoole Type' Trade Weight

9TH-10TH CENTURY A.D.

1 3/4 in. (194 grams, 43.5 mm).

A discoid lead insular Scandinavian domed trade weight with inset boss; the copper-alloy bridle mount very similar in design to one found at the late 9th/early 10th century Balladoole Viking Boat Burial on the Isle of Man in the 1940s; enamel-inlaid copper-alloy mount from a horse-harness set with a ribbed rim; the obverse decorated with a series of rectangular cells filled with opaque yellowish-green and reddish enamel, forming a circular border around a zoomorphic interlaced and spiral design formed by a series of sub-triangular and curving cloisons surrounding a circular central cell; the lead weight undecorated on the reverse.

Provenance

Possibly found in Hampshire, UK.
Acquired at a boot sale in Alton, Hampshire, UK in August 2023.
Property of an Australian collector.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.HAMP-7AD372.
Recorded with Winchester City Museum and later the Finds Liaison Officer, Hampshire Cultural Trust, who in turn consulted with Medieval experts at the British Museum.

Footnotes

This is an Insular Scandinavian weight which would have had an original weight of 8 ounces which is towards the heavier extreme for weights of this type, which re-use a variety of insular metalwork items as ready-made decoration. They appear to have originated in Viking contexts in England and/or Ireland in the late 9th century-early 10th century. Manufacture in the Isle of Man has been suggested for the entire group with similar designs and manufacturing techniques.

The copper-alloy element is likely to be part of a Hiberno-Norse, Manx or possibly Scottish horse-harness boss; it probably has a pierced lug to the reverse, now embedded in the lead plug. It is very similar to pieces of the harness set from the ship burial at Balladoole, Arbory Isle of Man. No find spot is available, but the majority of weights with decorative insets do come from archaeological contexts such sites such as Torksey, Aldwark and Woodstown, or graves such as Kiloran Bay.