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LOT 0355
Viking Bronze Borre Style Tortoise Brooch Set with Pendants
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
21 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (6.75 kg total, 55 x 47.5 cm including display frame).
Composed of a pair of brooches with pin to the reverse; attached to each brooch is a double rosette spacer with chain extending to other tortoise brooch; from the other rosette spacer hang two more chains, one with a needle case with openwork scroll pattern above, and one with a decorated lunate pendant; mounted on a large high-quality custom-made display stand by Colin Bowles Limited.
ProvenanceProperty of a professional collector; acquired before 1990.
Ex London collection since 2016.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11736-201216.
For similar oval brooches see Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pls.58ff. and in particular 62-63, 67; see also Graham-Campbell, J. & Kidd, D., The Vikings, London, 1980, figs.52-53, for similar brooches from Norway; Roesdahl, E., Wilson D.M., From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800 to 1200 (22nd Council of Europe Exhibition), Copenhagen, 1992, p.69, pp.75, 89, for similar specimens; Berthelot, S., Musin, A., Russie Viking, vers une autre Normandie? Novgorod et la Russie du Nord, des migrations scandinaves á la fin due Moyen Age (VIIIe-Xve s.), Paris, 2011, pp.90-91.
FootnotesThe most characteristic items of Viking women's jewellery are oval brooch pairs, sometimes called tortoise brooches due to their shape, found in many Viking Age female graves. As in this example, the tortoise brooches themselves were sometimes chained together. These chains suspended from the pair of brooches also supported utilitarian objects such as tweezers, ear spoon, scissors and a small knife, as well as amulets. Sometimes the brooches suspended strands of beads of glass, silver, amber or jet.
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LOT 0355
Viking Bronze Borre Style Tortoise Brooch Set with Pendants
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000€2,320 - 3,480 (for guidance only)$2,700 - 4,050 (for guidance only)
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Pre-Viking Iron Slave Chain Shackle
6th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £442
Comprising thirty-eight 8-shaped iron links, with interstitial H-shaped twisted elements; securing ring at the upper end; iron ring at the lower end with thick linked ring and two substantial shackles, each a pair of parallel bars with a loop at each end; attached to each a flat rectangular-section fetter with substantial retaining rivet. 4.45 kg, 2.57 m long
Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Property of a London, UK, collector.
The shackles are formed with an elliptical void in order to accommodate a human foot, closed with an iron rivet which could not have been easily removed without heating the metal. -
Viking Age Bronze Key with Quatrefoil-Shaped Handle
9th-13th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £160
In openwork, circular lugs to the bow and stem, cruciform and circular motifs to the bit. 15.3 grams, 77 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Gilt Bronze Mount with Cross and Lobes
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £26
Within a faux ropework roundel, raised ovals in each quarter and central boss. 29.6 grams, 39 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
