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LOT 1714
Pre-Viking Silver Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant
CIRCA 4TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
3/4 in. (2.77 grams, 21 mm).
Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, extensive filigree decoration on the body. [No Reserve]
ProvenancePrivate collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.
See Khrapunov, I. & Stylegar, F.A., Inter Ambo Maria, Contacts between Scandinavia and the Crimea in the Roman Period; Бажан И, А., Каргапольцев С, Ю, 1989, Об одной категории украшений-амулетов римского времени в Восточной Европе, СА, No.3; also see 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 Silver Pendant with Expanding Cross
9th-11th century A.D.Estimate: £250 - 350 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £125
Executed in repoussé technique, a dome to each arm likely representing the Five Wounds of Christ, together with punched annulets and other details. 6.56 grams, 51 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Period Silver Trade Ingot
Circa 800-1000 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £325
Sub-rectangular in plan and ovate in section, tapering to a rounded point at each end, some areas hammered flat in antiquity and displaying numerous striations and casting bubbles, nine triangular peck marks along the flat underside, but otherwise undecorated. 84 grams, 97 mm
From a private Tyneside collection, formed since the early 2000s. Accompanied by a copy of a previous illustrated catalogue sheet.
Cuerdale Viking silver hoard from Lancashire which includes similar long, narrow examples and was deposited circa 905-910 (J. Graham-Campbell, 2011, The Cuerdale Hoard and related Viking-Age silver and gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum, London, pl. 3, 1: 17-18). -
Pre-Viking Gold Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, the body decorated with granule clusters. 1.49 grams, 15 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.
