Viking Age Bronze Tortoise Brooch

Adorned with repoussé chevrons and applied granules; replaced loop. 1.17 grams, 15 mm



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

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.

Together with a palmette outline to one face, opposed beasts within the ornament; punched pellet texturing and pierced in several places for attachment. 17.7 grams, 42 mm



Acquired in the 1990s. Ex property of a German collector.

The hoop with a stylised zoomorphic design representing a bird, decorative collars and articulate tongue with openwork geometric dragon motif with head modelled in the half-round; long pin lost in antiquity. 37 grams, 59 mm



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