Viking Age Twisted Bronze Bracelet

Broad and shallow with narrow pierced ledge to reverse, Williams's Class B; openwork scene of two quadrupeds addorsed with legs resting on the outer edge of the frame and heads turned towards the median column; three loops to the curved upper edge. 35.2 grams, 52 mm



Found Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK.

This exact from does not appear in Williams's study, although examples with addorsed animals do appear in the 'Unclassified' section (p.102-4). The general shape and proportions are consistent with his Class B examples.

With thick braided bezel of three wires, flat butted reverse. 4.70 grams, 23.81 mm overall, 19.34 mm internal diameter (approximate size British N, USA 6 1/2, Europe 13.72, Japan 13)



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

Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, the body decorated with granule clusters. 1.49 grams, 15 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.