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Details
LOT 0324
Viking Age Silver-Gilt Rattle Horse Harness Pendant
9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (29.6 grams, 78 mm).
Teardrop-shaped with central pierced dome and plate to revere, ribbed suspension loop; parcel-gilt and niello design of grooved border with scroll terminal, boss with looped scrolls.
Provenance
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
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AUCTIONS:
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This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock: sudden shooting pains localised to a particular area of the body, such as in rheumatism, arthritis or muscle stitches or cramps. Elves were thought to shoot darts or arrows where such pains had no obvious external cause. Belief in elfshot persisted into the 20th century in rural areas, and as proof country folk would sometimes find small arrowheads (the remains of Neolithic or Mesolithic flints, or naturally-occurring spear-shaped stones) that were believed to be the magical weapons that caused the afflictions. Belief in elfshot began in the Pagan Germanic period.
