Viking Age Gold Hammer Pendant

Comprising a broad hoop with beaded base and rim, small bronze pin, bands of applied beading; above, plaque with applied scrolls and beading, granule clusters; to the lower edge an arc of loops each with a pendant chain and duck-foot dangle; Finno-Ugric type. 157 grams, 16.5 cm



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

D-section shank with ribbed collar, D-shaped loop to each end with ribbing. 31.9 grams, 67 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector in East Anglia, UK.

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.