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LOT 1635
Pre-Viking Silver Filigree Bucket Pendant
4TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
5/8 in. (1.35 grams, 17 mm).
Formed as a bell-shaped container with granule detailing. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
LiteratureSee Khrapunov, I. and 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; see Meaney, A., Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones, Oxford, BAR British Series 96, 1981, pp.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 amulet,s 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 Iron Socketted Bearded Axehead
Circa 10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £598
With slender ridged blade and chin to the lower edge, round socket with rectangular flanges, flattened rear edge; professionally cleaned, conserved, and restored. 788 grams, 17.5 cm
Cleaned, conserved and restored.
From the family collection of a South East London collector; formerly acquired in the late 1950s.
The type appears to be related to the Y-type of Viking axes. Slavic battle-axes also came into use in Scandinavia, especially in the eastern part of Gotland, Sweden and Denmark. The old Norse word Taparöx probably come from Topor, the Slavic word for axe. Eastern axes are also characterised by an almost completely round hole for the shaft. -
Viking Age Silver Gripping Beasts Pendant
10th century A.D.Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £1,000
Composed of an openwork discoid body with integral T-shaped tubular loop; raised gusseted rim enclosing a pair of S-shaped beasts with billetted bodies and comma-shaped tails, enmeshed gripping paws clutching the rim and their own bodies. 12.4 grams, 43 mm
Acquired on the European art market in the 1990s. Ex property of a German gentleman.
Despite the long period of overlap of Borre and Jellinge art styles, there are only a few examples of their fusion. The principal and most popular motif of the Borre style displays an animal with gripping paws, usually enmeshed in a circular frame, while a typical Jellinge style beast is more slender with a long, S-shaped body and ribbon decoration. The most famous example of a pendant featuring a fusion of these styles was found in a hoard from Vårby (Sweden), formed as a circle with a pair of Jellinge-style beasts with ribbon-shaped bodies in profile and heads with open jaws and extended tongues; however, each is provided with gripping paws and an enmeshed body, which are typical features of the Borre style. A few examples of these pendants were also found near the important trading settlement of Gnezdovo, near Smolensk, Russia. -
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).
