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LOT 1448
Pre-Viking Iron Slave Chain Shackle
6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
101 in. (4.45 kg, 2.57 m long).
Comprising thirty-eight 8-shaped iron links, with interstitial H-shaped twisted elements; securing ring at the upper end; iron ring at the lower end with thick linked ring and two substantial shackles, each a pair of parallel bars with a loop at each end; attached to each a flat rectangular-section fetter with substantial retaining rivet. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceAcquired 1971-1972.
From the collection of the vendor's father.
Property of a London, UK, collector.
Cf. iron collar from John’s Lane, Dublin, now in the National Museum of Ireland.
FootnotesThe shackles are formed with an elliptical void in order to accommodate a human foot, closed with an iron rivet which could not have been easily removed without heating the metal.
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 Age 'Great Beast' Weather Vane Terminal
11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,340
Formed as a crouching beast modelled in the round with hollow slot to the underside; elongated head with raised lentoid eyes and ellipsoid ears, ribbed wings to the shoulders, knop tail and splayed claws to the feet; mouth open with detailed fangs. 84.9 grams, 66 mm
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. 200289.
The navigation techniques in use in Iron Age Northern Europe were very sophisticated, as would be expected from people bordering the Baltic, North Sea and North Atlantic where boat- and ship-building traditions have been perfected over more than a thousand years. A carved wooden panel from Bergen, Norway, shows a number of Viking longships at sea, some with weathervanes mounted on the stempost. They are mounted vertically with the beast on the outer end. Gilded bronze weathervanes appear on the roofs of medieval churches in Sweden, Norway and Finland where they are often regarded as ornamental: symbols of access to resources and craftsmanship for the important families who endowed such buildings. These weathervanes in many cases originally adorned ships and were used as part of the navigational equipment. They may have inspired the medieval Norman custom of attaching a gilded weathervane or cock to church roofs, which eventually spread to secular buildings such as castles in France and Italy where their use was restricted to certain ranks of nobility (Lindgrén, 1983). -
Viking Coiled Bronze Ring
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £91
Punched ring-and-dot decoration to the expanded central section, orderly striations of pecking over the rest of the body. 11.13 grams, 23.03 mm overall, 18.64 mm internal diameter (approximate size British Q, USA 8, Europe 17.49, Japan 16)
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Bronze Bracelet
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £13
Composed of tapering arms and a penannular hoop, expanded central section with remains of geometric decoration. 92 grams, 77 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
