Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. A silver bracelet made from a thick, rolled silver wire with its narrowed ends twisted together; hanging from it are a collection of silver objects: three rings with coiled design, a pin with similar coiled design, a triangular pendant, a Thor's hammer (Mjolnir) (a common religious amulet), and a thin silver disc stamped with Arabic - perhaps a coin - that has been wrapped around the wire of the bracelet. Size: 3.05" in diameter (bracelet); largest pendant measures 1.75" H (7.7 cm; 4.4 cm)

Most of what we know about Viking silver comes from hoards of metal objects, often buried in the earth or deposited in bodies of water, like river beds. These are found in great quantities throughout the British Isles and the Nordic countries. What was the meaning of such hoards? Were they treasures buried for safe keeping, perhaps by people fleeing violence who did not wish to travel with heavy loads and who died or forgot before they could retrieve them? Or does their presence in rivers suggest votive deposits, gifts and offerings to spirits who lived in the water? Although we can only begin to guess at those answers, we are able to find other information by studying them. For example, from the Skaill hoard - the largest known hoard from Scotland, found in Orkney - we know that Arabic coins were a huge source of melted down silver, along with nineteen Arabic coins found intact in the hoard.

Provenance: Ex-Allakhverdov Collection, New York, NY

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#119412

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