Northern Europe, Viking culture, ca. 10th to 12th century CE. A high grade silver (91.64%) openwork pendant depicting an abstract creature of the avian persuasion, grasping either its own plumage or a serpent. The mesmerizing imagery is beautifully complemented by a circular 'beaded' border with an integral loop atop. Birds were popular motifs in Viking art. Perhaps Odin's ravens, Huginn and Muninn, whose role was to bring information to the god, inspired this pendant. A mesmerizing example of Viking luxury art, strung on a modern cord to be wearable! Silver quality: 91.64% silver. Size: 1.25" W x 1.5" H (3.2 cm x 3.8 cm); Weight: ~8.3 grams. Size: 1.25" W x 1.5" H (3.2 cm x 3.8 cm); cord measures 19.5" L (49.5 cm)
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 interesting 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.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) and then Latvia collection; found on the Baltic Sea coast prior to 1982
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#161426
Condition
Normal surface wear commensurate with age with some softening to details, but imagery is still discernible. Silver has also developed a beautiful age patina.