Viking Age Iron Bearded Axehead

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.

With graduated silver wire coils to the shank, collection of free-running cosmetic grooming pendants comprising: pelta-shaped plaque, quadrant-shaped plaque, ear scoop, miniature hammer, tweezers. 28.75 grams total, bracelet 88.90 mm wide



Formerly acquired in the late 1950s. From the family collection of a South East London collector.

Miniature hammers occur in pre-Viking times both in Scandinavia and in England, but their number increased markedly in Viking Scandinavia. They are known in iron, bronze, occasionally amber, and, from the 10th century onward, silver. They are predominantly found in women's graves, while most of the silver examples come from hoards of the late 10th and 11th centuries.

Each a round-section shank with the ends flattened, ribbed and coiled, and with a tapering movable pin. 18.1 grams total, 32-34 mm



Private collection, Arundel, West Sussex, UK, 1975-late 1990s.