Viking Objects
Blue Glass Bead (2001/59-sf174)
This Viking Age gadrooned or Melon type dark blue glass bead was found in the Magistrates Court excavation in Derby, Derbyshire. Glass beads were a coveted item for making jewellery with some being imported from as far away as the Middle East. They were manufactured by specialised artisans who would heat various coloured glass rods over a furnace and melt the glass onto a metal stick to form different shaped beads.
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Viking Objects
Trefoil brooch (LCNCC : 2011.99)
A trefoil brooch with Borre/Jellinge-style cast ornament belonging to Peterson’s type 109. The brooch is most probably cast of copper alloy with traces of gilding on its upper surface and white metal plating on the reverse. While of Scandinavian design, many examples found in the East Midlands were probably made in the Danelaw, and may have been copies of Scandinavian styles, instead of being imported from Scandinavia. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Gold Stamped Finger Ring (DENO-9A6C17)
A gold finger ring decorated with two rows of interlocking stamped triangles with triple pellets in each. The stamped decoration is typical of Viking jewellery of the late 9th-10th centuries and a punch-decorated gold ring of broadly similar form has been found at Thetford.
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Viking Objects
Die Stamp (NLM-690F57)
This cast copper-alloy die was used in the process of making filigree pendants of the Hiddensee-Rügen type, more specifically, to create pressed silver or gold sheet appliqués, which were applied to a pendant back-plate and used as a base for filigree and granulation work. The ring in the centre creates a closed ring-knot motif related to the Scandinavian Borre style. The Hiddensee-Rügen style is named after the gold jewellery hoard discovered in the late nineteenth century on the island of Hiddensee, off the Baltic coast of Germany. The Swinhope die is one of a small group of recorded objects used in the production of Hiddensee-style cruciform pendants. No finished pendants of the type represented by the Swinhope die are known, either from England or Scandinavia.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Finger-Ring (NLM-D4A8C9)
A copper-alloy cast finger-ring featuring circular punched ring and dot decoration. Ring and dot was a decorative technique used at various periods from the later Iron Age onwards, but which enjoyed a Viking Age revival.
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Viking Objects
Pendant (LEIC-C58A13)
This copper-alloy pendant depicts an individual holding a shield and a sword. Similar designs have been seen in pendants from southern Scandinavia which are generally identified as valkyries, though they could represent other mythological figures. The closest parallel in England is an example from Wickham Market, Suffolk. .
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Viking Objects
Trefoil Brooch Fragment (CM.1823_2008)
A fragment of a Scandinavian copper-alloy trefoil brooch with a simple line pattern following its general outline. While of Scandinavian design, many examples found in the East Midlands were probably made in the Danelaw, and may have been copies of Scandinavian styles, instead of being imported from Scandinavia. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Copper-Alloy Borre-Style Brooch (SWYOR-A257A6)
A Scandinavian copper-alloy Borre-style convex disc brooch decorated with three inward-looking Borre-style animal heads separated by wedge-shaped arms. Identified as Jansson type II A1 by Jane Kershaw. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Silver Terslev Brooch
Terslev style, where Scandinavian ring-chain patterns are the main decorative component, is a subcategory of the Borre style and takes its name from the silver hoard discovered in Terslev, Denmark. The decoration comprises a series of ring-knots related to the Borre ring-chain. The Terslev style occurs mainly on brooches and pendants, including both high-quality gold and silver jewellery as well as lower-end base metal items. The cast-base metal jewellery, such as those made of copper alloy, were intended to imitate the higher-end gold and silver jewellery, and often employed techniques such as gilding to achieve this. The Terslev designs that occur in England extend the repertoire by introducing new Scandinavian motifs hitherto unrecorded in Scandinavia. For more information on Scandinavian jewellery in England check out our blog: Brooches, Pendants and Pins: Scandinavian Dress Accessories in England.
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Viking Designs
Drawing of a Hammer-Shaped Pendant
A drawing of a gold hammer-shaped pendant, popularly called a Thor’s hammer pendant, from Spilsby, Lincolnshire. These may have been worn to show devotion to the god Thor, or to secure the god’s protection, although there is little evidence to support this interpretation. Pendants like this have been found made of lead, copper alloy, silver and gold, showing that many different strata of society could have worn them.