Viking Inspired Bronze Omega Brooch Collection

Disc-shaped with incised Sol Invictus motif; integral loop with end wound about the shank. 0.97 grams, 29 mm



Property of the vendor's grandfather, thence by family descent, circa 1985. From the private collection of a New York, USA gentleman.

With rilled edge and pierced hub, the field a network of dense interlaced tendrils. 48.9 grams, 70.7 mm

Fine condition.

Acquired 1971-1972. From the collection of the vendor's father. Ex property of a London, UK, collector.

With braided wire handle, applied wire bands to the rim, granulation to the sidewall and base, five cells each set with a cabochon garnet. 3.02 grams, 19 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.