Viking Age Tooth Pendant

Comprising a trapezoidal openwork plate and integral buckle loop; the loop domed in section with triangular extension to the forward edge and raised billets, flat-section coiled tongue; the plate formed as a facing lupine head with reserved running zigzag to each flanking foreleg attached to the rear of the loop; Western Baltic type. 26.89, 65.98 mm



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

Miniature drum-shaped vessel covered in filigree bobbles with strap handle. 0.78 grams, 13.52 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.

Modelled in the half-round, advancing figure with bent legs and holding a drinking horn. 7.62 grams, 37 mm



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