LOT 0391

Viking Age Bronze Fire Steel with Odin and Ravens

9TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.

2 1/4 in. (27.3 grams, 57 mm).

Openwork bronze bifacial handle formed as a central facing male bust flanked by two oppose birds of prey with beaks placed beside his head; pierced lug between; below, row of discs above a transverse bar with long socket to the underside.

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12435-225923.

Cf. Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pl.144.

The image of Óðinn (Odin) with his ravens Huginn and Muninn appears widely in the Viking world, and is mentioned in the Icelandic poem collection Poetic Edda and elsewhere. The two birds fly around the world collecting news and then report it to the god in the evening. He says that he fears the ravens may not return from their flight: since their names mean 'thought' and 'memory', the meaning of the verse is that the god is anxious about the loss of these faculties.