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LOT 1567
Viking Age Bronze Cross Pendant
CIRCA 10TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.
2 7/8 in. (27.2 grams, 73 mm).
Flat-section cruciform plaque with tong-and-dot detailing to obverse, barrel-shaped Byzantine-style suspension loop.
ProvenanceAcquired on the London art market in the late 1980s-1990s.
From the family collection of an East London, UK, gentleman.
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AUCTIONS:
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Viking Hammer-Shaped Gold Ingot
9th-12th century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £338
D-shaped in section with T-shaped finial and central annulet. 8.25 grams, 22 mm
Fine condition.
From a collection formed prior to 2000. From the property of a Cambridgeshire, UK, gentleman. -
Viking Age Gold 'Elf Shot' Pendant
9th-11th century A.D. or earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £312
Gold cup with hoop and suspension loop, aqua glass insert. 0.55 grams, 16 mm
From a late Japanese specialist collector, 1970-2000s.
This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock: 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. -
Pre Viking Scandinavian Silver Aroma Bucket Pendant with garnets
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
With braided wire handle, applied wire bands to the rim, granulation to the sidewall and base, five cells each set with a cabochon garnet. 3.02 grams, 19 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.
