Viking Age Bronze Pendant with Cross and Flower

Crescentic in plan with a triangular cross-section, both faces displaying panels of lozenges, each with a punched annulet to centre; piercing to one arm. 45 grams, 10.8 cm



From a 1970s collection. Ex private Merseyside, UK, collection, since 2017.

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.

With wide slot to the upper edge, two ferrous mounting rivets. 8.9 grams, 26 mm



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