Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. A fabulous bracelet of a wearable form shaped from several twisted strands of high-grade (96%) silver. Each twisted strand has smooth outer surfaces surrounding smaller twisted bands with slender terminals which fuse into solid cones. The terminals are adorned with stocky ornaments boasting motifs of hammered stippling across each of the 14 flat surfaces. 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. A beautiful and wearable example of fine Viking silver! Size: 3.2" W x 3.1" H (8.1 cm x 7.9 cm); quality of silver: 96%; total weight: 99.8 grams.
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.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection
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#144562
Condition
Wearable as shown. Slight bending to overall form, with light softening to some hammered motifs, otherwise intact and excellent. Light earthen deposits within some recessed areas, and great patina throughout.