Important Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace - May 18, 2017 | Artemis Gallery In Co
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Important Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace

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Important Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace
Important Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace
Item Details
Description
Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. An incredible long knitted silver chain ending in two cast terminals that are pierced through and hooked onto a narrow silver ring with coiled ends. Hanging between the terminals from the ring is a large, heavy Thor's hammer amulet, also known as Mjolnir. The hammer is stamped with a series of tiny circles on both sides of its "blade", with triangles on the "handle". Length of chain: 23" (58.4 cm); size of Thor's Hammer: 1.4" W x 1.75" H (3.6 cm x 4.4 cm) (82.2 g in total)

Small Thor's hammers were worn as religious amulets throughout the Viking era, usually made of silver and usually hung on silver chains. Some even made it to the Christian era; there is a famous example of a Thor's hammer amulet from Fossi, Iceland, that has been turned into a cross (they are also invoked nowadays to describe the power of the surprisingly mighty Icelandic football team). The chain itself, meanwhile, is a style of knitwork done with thin silver wire that seems to have originated with the Vikings.

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. 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?

Provenance: private New York City, New York, USA collection

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#123103
Condition
Light age patina, with some small areas of wear on the chain.
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Important Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace

Estimate $5,000 - $7,000
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Starting Price $3,000
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Artemis Gallery

Artemis Gallery

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