Large Viking Silver Pendant with Concentric Circle Design

A silver pendant formed as a miniature bucket with applied filigree bands to the strap handle and body. 2.57 grams, 24 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.

With round-section twisted wire body, tubular sleeves with faux ropework collars and ribbed suspension loop, one terminal repaired. 92 grams, 15.3 cm

Fine condition, one terminal repaired.

Private collection before 2000. UK art market. Ex property of a London gentleman.

Comprising a slender penannular hoop and hooked finials with conical bosses. 22.12 grams, 13 cm wide



From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.200432.

During the Salian period, large treasures of silver coins, bars and jewellery were buried in the West Slavic settlement areas, east of the borders of the empire. This torc corresponds with a Slavic neck collar from the hoard of Farve, Schleswig Holstein. The collar is in silver, but the structure is identical to our torc.