Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 9th to 11th century CE. A stunning, hollow-formed pendant of an ovoid form shaped from 73% silver with a 90.5% silver back panel. Displayed atop the obverse is an intricate motif composed of eight petite bulbs surrounding a larger central protrusion with slender, twisted wires surrounding each bulb and radiating outwards from between the smaller components. Below the pattern is a spiral-ended lemniscate shape, and decorating the peripheries are dozens of impressed triangular patterns consistent with fine Viking artistry. The hollow presentation of this pendant is unusual as typical Viking silverworks are solid and meant to withstand countless ventures and trades. Size (pendant): 1.25" W x 2.2" H (3.2 cm x 5.6 cm); (necklace): 22" L (55.9 cm); quality of silver: 73% for front and 90.5% for back panel; total weight: 28.5 grams.

The important Viking metalworking shops correspond to their great trading ports and proto-urban centers - Birka, Helgo, Sigtuna, and Lund in Sweden, Ribe, Haithabu (Hedeby), and Fyrkat in Denmark, and Kaupang and Trondheim in Norway. Silver was the principal currency of the Viking world, which stretched from Russia to northern Canada at the height of their influence. In many places, the Vikings kept silver not as coins, but as jewelry, a wearable currency form that was not subject to the authority of a monarch or mint. One of the most common archaeological finds from the Viking period is a hoard of metal objects, often buried in the earth or deposited in bodies of water, like river beds.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) and then Latvia collection; found on the Baltic Sea coast prior to 1982

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#157668

Wearable as shown. Silver pendant is ancient and necklace cord is modern. Very small losses to areas along lower half of obverse as shown. Minor encrustations, softening to some wire twists, and light indentations to back panel. Great patina throughout.