Viking Decorated Bronze Latch Key

8TH CENTURY A.D.

3 1/2 in. (19 grams, 90 mm).

A bifacial latch-lifter with square openwork head, flat-section shank with a barbed finial, pierced to accept a suspension ring; three piercings to the head, two B-shaped, and a larger T-shape, scrolled centre bar; scrolled lappets above the junction with the shank, and two scaphoid depressions to each face and ring-and-dot decoration throughout.

Provenance

From a private UK collection formed since the 1980s.
Ex property of a UK gallery, early 2000s.

Literature

Cf. Lehtosalo-Hilander, P-L., Luistari I The Graves, Helsinki, 1982, pl.105, item 24.4118; and Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.3 - Late Saxon, Late Viking & Norman, Greenlight Publishing, 2013, item, 1.13-g, for type.

CONDITION

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LOT 1741