Viking Age Decorated Bronze Brooch

Featuring a scalloped handle with openwork scrolling tendrils, complete set of teeth below. 16.5 grams, 44 mm



Acquired 1980-2000. Ex property of an American collector.

Norsemen were particularly fastidious about their appearance. The hair and beard were important to the men, for making a statement and to intimidate their opponents. Early combs were made from antler or bone and carried in a small pouch; high status combs were later made from metal (mainly bronze) and have been found as grave goods.

Each buckle decorated with zoomorphs and geometric motifs, one with remains of gilding, one openwork and one with an articulate tongue. 18.1 grams total, 27-39 mm



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

A silver pendant formed as a miniature bucket with applied filigree bands to the strap handle and body. 2.57 grams, 24 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.