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LOT 1605
Pre-Viking Bronze Proto Boar's Head Brooch
7TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 in. (15.4 grams, 46 mm).
Formed as a keeled sub-triangular plaque, convex in profile with bulbs on the flanks extending to a short rounded projection; integral catchplate to reverse and remains of ferrous pin. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired early 2000s.
East Anglia, UK, collection.
Cf. MacGregor, A. et al., A Summary Catalogue of the Continental Archaeological Collections, Oxford, 1997, item 3.5.
FootnotesThis form of brooch developed from Scandinavian Iron Age forms of bow brooch with crossbar, bow and footplate; it later evolved into the standard form of boar-head brooch.
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AUCTIONS:
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Pre Viking Scandinavian Silver Aroma Bucket Pendant with garnets
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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.
