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LOT 1683
Viking Bronze Openwork Box Brooch with Silver Detailing
11TH CENTURY A.D.
2 1/8 in. (95 grams, 55 mm).
Formed as an openwork outer shell, inner container and bottom plate; the upper face with central conical boss and four small satellite bosses each with a silver surface disc; to the outer face four pierced tongue-shaped panels with D-shaped finials proud of the upper face, each with a silvered element to the upper end; the bottom plate with integral catchplate and central void, four attachment pins to the underside; the upper face and sidewall executed in Urnes style zoomorphic openwork; the inner element a plain sheet-bronze container.
ProvenanceAcquired in the 1950s.
Ex private collection, South West England.
Exhibited at the Harwich Museum, Harwich, Essex, UK, 27th August-10th December 2025; accompanied by a copy of a photograph of the artefacts on display.
LiteratureCf. MacGregor, A. et al., A Summary Catalogue of the Continental Archaeological Collections, Oxford, 1997, items 1.8,9, for type.
FootnotesOn the Baltic island of Gotland, high-ranking females wore 'box' (or 'drum') brooches to secure their outer garments at the shoulders. The inner container may have been used to hold small valuables.
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LOT 1683
Viking Bronze Openwork Box Brooch with Silver Detailing
Estimate £600 - 800€700 - 930 (for guidance only)$810 - 1,080 (for guidance only)
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Large Viking Silver Interlaced Chain with Amuletic Rock Crystal Pendant
10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £7,475
Comprising: openwork trichinopoly chain with sleeve terminals each with a loop and bar closure; spherical rock crystal pendant with silver wire cage and mounting cap. 367 grams, 120 cm
Private collection, Europe, mid-1990s. Private collection, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12985-246022. -
Pre-Viking Gold Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
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. -
Viking Bronze Bracelet with Bear's Head Terminals
8th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
Flat-section with low-relief reserved zigzag and longitudinal bands, each end with a bear's head and forepaws in plan. 88.7 grams, 69 mm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
