Viking Age Decorated Bronze Broad Axehead Pendant

Modelled in the half-round, advancing figure with bent legs and holding a drinking horn. 7.62 grams, 37 mm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Formed as a bell-shaped container with granule detailing. 1.35 grams, 17 mm



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

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 amulet,s they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages.

A broad sheet-bronze disc horse harness pendant with band of repoussé bosses to the edge, applied cross-bands to the obverse and central boss; applied attachment loop with tremolier detailing. 60 grams, 12.1 cm



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