LOT 0310

Viking Silver Elfshot Pendant with Stone Arrowhead

9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D. AND EARLIER

1 3/8 in. (2.43 grams, 34 mm).

An amulet with a silver cap securing an arrow-shaped flint insert. [No Reserve]

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

Cf. Evans, J., The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons and Ornaments of Great Britain, London, 1897, p.365; Korshun, V.E., Yazcheskye Priveski Drevnei Rusi X-XIV Vekov, volume I, Moscow, 2012, item A.2.03.

This amulet was believed to offer protection against 'Elfshot'. The attack of elves was believed responsible for mysterious suffering in men and livestock: sudden shooting pains localised to a particular area of the body, such as in rheumatism, arthritis, or muscle stitches or cramps. Elves were thought to shoot darts or arrows where such pains had no obvious external cause. Belief in elfshot persisted into the 20th century in rural areas, and as proof, country folk would sometimes find small arrowheads (the remains of Neolithic or Mesolithic flints, or naturally-occurring spear-shaped stones) that were believed to be the magical weapons that caused the afflictions. Belief in elfshot began in the Pagan Germanic period.