Viking Age Gold and Rock Crystal Pendant

The semi-circular head plate with suspension loop and two remaining loops to lower edge, both suspending chains with bell dangles (rattles absent). 21.1 grams, 64 mm



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Ruislip, UK, gentleman, by inheritance.

Openwork plate brooch or mount with two pierced lugs to the reverse depicting a rider and standing figure; the horse and figures shown in profile; the rider wearing baggy trousers and a cloak or mantle, a spear carried beneath his leg, his hair worn long and knotted at the rear; the standing figure wearing a floor-length robe and holing a shield; square panel beneath the horse with a grid of nine squares. 6.3 grams, 34 mm



Found near Great Massingham, Norfolk, UK, circa 2010.

The scene depicted on the mount or brooch is often assumed to represent an armed warrior on horseback and a Valkyrie holding a shield. However, the rider's long and looped hairstyle may be typical of females of the period, and the standing figure often appears to be wearing a helmet. In a detailed discussion by Gardeła, Pentz and Price (2022), the standard interpretation is challenged since we do not know whether the scene shows humans or deities, nor whether the rider and attendant might be interpreted as an armed female being welcomed into Freyja's home of Folkvangr. Does the grid beneath the horse imply that there is a gaming-board available to the rider, a typical item of hall-based enjoyment alongside the horn which symbolises beer or mead? Or does this actually show a saddle-cloth, a prosaic piece of riding equipment?

With vertical bands and beast-head finials, high-relief braid detailing. 40.9 grams, 79 mm



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

The bracelet finds comparison with those of the Proto-Baltic Finnic Culture. In the Pre-Viking and Viking ages, later forms of this bracelet type were used in Baltic lands mainly in north-western Estonia, Virumaa, Järvamaa, and northern Tartumaa. The latest bracelets of this type, from the 9th century, display a longitudinal groove on their terminals. All bracelets with thickening terminals have been usually found in burials, hoards, or as stray finds.