Viking Lead Gaming Board 'King Piece' with Plundered Bronze Styca

Tubular body with domed base and filigree handle; applied bands of filigree and braided wire to sidewall and base. 1.43 grams, 14 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.

Rectangular-section bar of penannular form with reversed coil finials; incised blocks and saltires with punched-point detailing and hatching. 33 grams, 71 mm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK.

Lead trade weight or gaming piece with inset irregular issue Styca with blundered legends, dating to c.843/4-c.855 A.D. 13.6 grams, 18 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector near Ripon, North Yorkshire, UK.