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LOT 2081
Viking Bronze Inlaid Lead Hnefatafl Gaming Piece
850-1066 A.D.
5/8 in. (22.3 grams, 17 mm).
A conical gaming piece or trade weight with an inlaid bronze disc at the top. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFound Wolcot near Folkingham, Lincolnshire, UK, on Tuesday, 1st April 2008.
Property of a Scottish private collector.
Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.LIN-88E805.
Cf. Pollington, S., Mead Hall – Feasting in Anglo-Saxon England, Hockwold-cum-Wilton, 2003, p.136, 220; cf. Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.2 - Middle Saxon & Viking, Witham, 2010, item 1.14-j, for type.
FootnotesThis piece would have been used in the board game Hnefatafl. Trade weights and gaming pieces in Anglo-Scandinavian culture were often formed by taking a small and finely-made pre-existing item and embedding it into a lead matrix. The effect of this practice has been to preserve smaller pieces which would otherwise not have survived.
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Viking Silver-Gilt Elfshot Pendant with Stone Arrowhead
9th-11th century A.D. and earlierSold for (Inc. bp): £845
Comprising a silver sleeve with a knapped flint arrowhead, a circular cell set with a clear glass cabochon above. 3.46 grams, 44.84 mm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock: sudden shooting pains localised to a particular area of the body, such as in rheumatism, arthritis, or muscle stitches or cramps. Elves were thought to shoot darts or arrows where such pains had no obvious external cause. Belief in elfshot persisted into the 20th century in rural areas, and as proof, country folk would sometimes find small arrowheads (the remains of Neolithic or Mesolithic flints, or naturally-occurring spear-shaped stones) that were believed to be the magical weapons that caused the afflictions. Belief in elfshot began in the Pagan Germanic period. -
Pre-Viking Gold Aroma Bucket Pendant
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
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. -
Viking Age Bronze Bar Bracelet
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £65
Crescentic in profile and plano-convex in section with tapering ends, median transverse block with lateral hole for an attachment. 31.4 grams, 60 mm
Ex Arundel, East Sussex, UK, private collection, 1970s-2000.
