Massive 8th C. Viking Silver Mjolnir / Thor's Hammer

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Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World

By Artemis Gallery

Mar 12, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-03-12 10:00:00 2020-03-12 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient / Ethnographic Around The World https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-ethnographic-around-the-world-4957
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• Lot Description
  Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 8th to 11th century CE. A stunning pendant of a massive size, crafted from high-grade (95%) silver, in the form of Mjolnir, the legendary hammer of the lightning god Thor. The hammer has a slender handle decorated with stamped circles along the top half and surrounding both faces of the integral suspension loop. Dense motifs of stamped triangles containing a trio of raised dots cover both sides of the roughly rectangular hammer head which resolves in a wide point along the bottom edge. Viking men and women would wear accessories like this example as a sign of religious belief and visual wealth. They were often used as currency or deposited in rivers as offerings to the gods, though they were also buried with their owners upon death. With its wrapped wire ring, this is an incredibly rare and wearable example of fine Viking artistry! Size: 1.75" W x 4.875" H (4.4 cm x 12.4 cm); quality of silver: 95%; total weight: 57.8 grams.
  
  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. 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 riverbeds. These are found in great quantities throughout the British Isles and the Nordic countries.
  
  A much smaller example of a Mjolnir pendant hammered for $37,500 at Christie's, New York "Ancient Jewelry" auction (sale 2771, December 13, 2013, lot 349).
  
  Provenance: private Silicon Valley, California, USA collection, acquired in February 2019; ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-private East Coast, USA collection; ex-Neil Phillips collection, New York, USA, acquired in the 1980s
  
  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 and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #151406

  Condition

  Slight bending to handle, head, and overall form, with light encrustations within some stamped decorations, and minor abrasions, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits and great patina throughout.
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