Viking Age Silver Twisted Neck Torc

A silver pendant formed as a miniature bucket with applied filigree bands to the strap handle and body. 2.57 grams, 24 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.

The bird in profile with equal-arm cross on its back, linear detail to the wing and tail, lentoid eye, loop below the chest; loop to the reverse. 10.06 grams, 31 mm



Found near Winteringham, Humberside, UK.

Composed of a solid stem and two teeth to the side edge of the bit. 2.44 grams, 39 mm



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