Northern Europe, Viking culture, ca. 8th to 10th century CE. A gorgeously-colored collection of nineteen glass and six amber beads strung on a modern sterling silver chain. By 800 CE, the Vikings were trading across a huge area, from the islands of the North Atlantic (the first glass beads known from North America appear to have come from the Viking trading post at L'anse aux Meadow, Newfoundland) to northern Russia and the Islamic world; glass beadmaking was a standard in many of the regions they visited, and so they returned home and established beadmaking workshops in Scandinavia and traded them at the great trading emporia / wics like Hedeby and Birka. Beads were often worn as festoons strung between oval brooches, though sometimes also as necklaces. Amber beads, meanwhile, may have been amulets to the goddess Freyja, as with the one found in the famous burial of a Viking woman at Gotland, Sweden. Size of largest bead: 0.5" W (1.3 cm); length of chain: 18" L (45.7 cm)

Provenance: ex-private Southern California, USA collection

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

We ship worldwide to most countries and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.

#134078

All beads are intact, with pearlescent patina on the glass beads, and light deposits on the surfaces of all. Modern sterling silver chain.