Viking Silver Necklace with Thor's Hammer

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Ancient Treasures & Holiday Jewelry

By Artemis Gallery

Nov 19, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-11-19 10:00:00 2020-11-19 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Ancient Treasures & Holiday Jewelry https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/ancient-treasures-holiday-jewelry-6035
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• Lot Description
  Northern Europe, Viking/Norse culture, ca. 10th to 12th century CE. A gorgeous sterling silver necklace featuring a chain comprised of 26 slender twisted silver pieces of tubular form connected by loops at each end and a pendant of Thor's hammer. Suspended by a ring wrapped in another piece of silver and stamped with dots to resemble a coiled rope, the hammer pendant falls from a spherical loop bearing three dots. That hammer pendant's handle is embellished with a diagonal coiled rope design, as well as a thinner horizontal version of this motif nearer to the hammer head, which is decorated with a geometric pattern of triangles over a dotted ground. Size of hammer: 0.5" W x 1.375" H (1.3 cm x 3.5 cm); Size of full necklace: 16" L (40.6 cm); Weight: 41.1 grams; silver quality of all elements: 90%.
  
  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 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.
  
  Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex Latvia collection; ex private Kaliningrad (Konigsberg); found on the Baltic Sea coast prior to 1982
  
  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.
  
  #160717

  Condition

  Expected softening of detail commensurate with age. Otherwise, intact, excellent, and wearable with light patina.
• Shipping Info

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