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LOT 0344
Viking Silver Buckle with Moustachioed Face
CIRCA 8TH-9TH CENTURY A.D.
3 in. (35.13 grams, 75.36 mm).
With ovoid loop and integral buckle-plate, coiled wire tongue; loop with segmented frame, and bear-head motif to forward edge; plate with narrow neck developing to a male mask with broad flaring moustache, snub nose and lentoid eyes; fixing lugs to reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenanceFrom the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.
LiteratureCf. Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, plate 86 (7, 8), for type.
CONDITIONTimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
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Viking Bronze Inlaid Lead Hnefatafl Gaming Piece
850-1066 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
A conical gaming piece or trade weight with an inlaid bronze disc at the top. 22.3 grams, 17 mm
Found Wolcot near Folkingham, Lincolnshire, UK, on Tuesday, 1st April 2008. Property of a Scottish private collector. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.LIN-88E805.
This piece would have been used in the board game Hnefatafl. Trade weights and gaming pieces in Anglo-Scandinavian culture were often formed by taking a small and finely-made pre-existing item and embedding it into a lead matrix. The effect of this practice has been to preserve smaller pieces which would otherwise not have survived. -
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Scandinavian Viking Age Silver Inlaid Iron Hilt Guard
Circa 10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
Hollow-formed with a deep curved profile; rectangular slot in the upper face for the tang; bands of applied silver ropework ornament on a sheet-silver field. 70 grams, 72 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK.
The guard is too narrow to have been used on a sword, but it may have been part of the hilt furniture of a high-status seax or knife. The form is approximately consistent with Petersen's Type Z of late-10th century date. -
Viking Age Bronze Twisted Bar Bracelet
Circa 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £59
Two rods tightly twisted and curved into a penannular shape, hammered into a rectangular-section crescent and tapered towards the ends. 30.9 grams, 60 mm
Ex Arundel, East Sussex, UK, private collection, 1970s-2000.
