Viking and Later Fire-Striker Collection

S-shaped plate brooch formed with a profile bird-head finial at each end with inset garnet cabochon eye, hatched panels and inlaid garnet cloisons; pin-lugs and catch to reverse. 7.58 grams, 30 mm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

During the mid-sixth century the S-brooch, along with the disc brooch, became popular. These were made primarily of gilded silver embellished with garnet inlays or in garnet cloisonné. Early forms of S-shaped brooches appear in graves in Scandinavia throughout the fifth century and in Europe during the first decades of the sixth century, and reached the height of their popularity during the latter half of that time. They were widespread across Europe and are found in central and western Europe, Italy, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England. They generally take the form of an S-shaped body with heads at either end facing in opposite directions. The heads are generally depicted as birds but examples are known of unidentified animals with splayed open jaws, possibly dragons or wolves. The use of the head imagery is consistent with the aesthetic tendencies associated with the northern, Pagan Germanic world.

Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, beaded wire bands to top and bottom of sidewall, filigree loop ornament. 2.35 grams, 21 mm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

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.

Comprising: triangular attachment plate with rivet-holes at the upper corners, Y-shaped motif in a beaded border, lateral scrolls; articulating joint connecting to a tongue-shaped bifacial pendant with ribbed bulb and scrollwork. 36 grams, 90 mm



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.