Viking Age Bronze Birka Falcon Type Sword Scabbard Chape

9TH-10TH CENTURY A.D.

2 3/4 in. (31.4 grams, 71 mm).

Of openwork form, collared knop to tip and collared projections to apex. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.

Literature

Cf. Paulsen, P., Schwertortbänder der Wikingerzeit, Stuttgart, 1953, in relation to the trading centre on the island of Birka, eastern Sweden; see also Charlotte Hedenstierna-Jonson for the significance of the falcon motif to the society of Birka, particularly with regard to the development of a 'princely family' and its heraldic display, in Rus', Varangians and Birka Warriors (2002).

CONDITION

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LOT 1421