Viking Age Bronze Twisted Bracelet

Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, beaded wire bands to top and bottom of sidewall, filigree loop ornament. 2.02 grams, 18 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.

Comprising the canine tooth of a wolf or large dog, with silver filigree collar and suspension loop. 15.5 grams, 56 mm



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

Disc brooch with low-relief Borre style looped tendrils motif, lug and catch to the reverse. 6.56 grams, 28 mm



Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection.