Viking Age Gold Axe-Shaped Bead

One bifacial tongue-shaped strap end with openwork scheme and punched ring-and-dot motifs; one composed of an openwork interlaced vegetal design. 23 grams total, 39-44 mm



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

Decorated with filigree bands of overlapping semi-circular motifs to the sidewall; slender handle with plaited decoration. 1.71 grams, 19 mm high



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.

With stylised face and pierced eyes, Williams's Class B Type 4 with vestigial lower ledge. 22.11 grams, 41 mm



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