Viking Inspired Bronze Omega Brooch

With a thick penannular loop and polyhedral finial set with twelve garnet cloisons, some detached. 6.36 grams, 34 mm



Acquired in the mid 1980s-1990s. Private collection, Switzerland, thence by descent. Private collection, since the late 1990s.

Formed with a ropework band to the edge of each cheek and the socket, doubling as the suspension loop. 5.2 grams, 33 mm wide



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

Formed as a bell-shaped container with granule detailing. 1.35 grams, 17 mm



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

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 amulet,s they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages.