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LOT 1364
Pre-Viking Gold Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant
4TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
1/2 in. (1.19 grams, 13 mm).
Cup-shaped in sheet gold with applied filigree detailing and granule clusters. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
LiteratureSee Meaney, A., Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones, Oxford, BAR British Series 96, 1981, p.166-168, for discussion of the type.
FootnotesPendants 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.
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Viking Age Bronze Bracelet with Zig-Zag Design
9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
With raised ledge to the inner face, panels with interlocking teeth and vertical bars to the outer face. 56.4 grams, 70 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
A similar bracelet in bronze, with deep wavy furrows and stamped rows of circles, was found in grave 1081 of the Birka Necropolis. It was a female grave, and the diameter/length of the bracelet (73mm) corresponds to the 70mm of our specimen. These bracelets, as visible in the grave, were usually worn as a pair on both arms. -
Viking Age Bronze Decorated Penannular Brooch
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
With square-headed terminals decorated with punched ring-and-dot motifs, free-running pin, brooch body with carinated upper face. 13.1 grams, 38 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Bronze Bird Brooch
10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £364
Modelled in profile with radiating tripartite crest, triangular stub wing, splayed feet, catch and pin-lugs to the reverse. 10.9 grams, 38 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
