Viking Age Bronze Belt Strap Distributor with Beast-Head Attachments

Formed as a gold cap set with polished glass gem; suspension loop above. 0.85 grams, 17 mm



Acquired 1980-2015. Ex Abelita family collection.

This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock. 'Elfshot' described sudden shooting pains localised to a particular area of the body, such as in rheumatism, arthritis or muscle stitches or cramps. Elves were thought to shoot darts or arrows where such pains had no obvious external cause. Belief in elfshot persisted into the 20th century in rural areas, and as proof country folk would sometimes find small arrowheads (the remains of Neolithic or Mesolithic flints, or naturally-occurring spear-shaped stones) that were believed to be the magical weapons that caused the afflictions. Belief in elfshot began in the Pagan Germanic period.

Adorned with filigree to the sidewall and handle, a polished red glass gem to the base held in a toothed setting. 2.24 grams, 21 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.

Squat-bodied and triangular in form; short tab with rivet hole to apex, ledge with rivet to reverse of the lower edge, displaying high-relief interlaced serpent design with head above the lower edge. 22.3 grams, 32 mm



Acquired early 1990s. From an East Anglian private collection.

The mount is not included in Williams's study of Anglo-Scandinavian stirrup mounts, which is now more than twenty years old. However, it is evidently an example of Class B, while lacking the bear-mask and openwork features. Its design appears to derive from a Class A type (Williams's nos.380, 383) which shares the feature of the facing serpent-head placed centrally on the lower edge.