Viking Objects
Reproduction Arabic Silver Dirham
The dirham was a unit of weight used across North Africa, the Middle East, and Persia, with varying values which also referred to the type of coins used in the Middle East during the Viking Age. These coins were extremely prized possessions not only for their silver value but as a way of displaying one’s wealth and vast trade connections. Millions of Arabic Dirhams would have been imported throughout the Viking world and are mostly found in hoards. Arabic coins are especially useful for dating sites, because they carry the date when they were minted. This permits a more accurate dating where the part of the coin with the date survives, whereas European coins can only be dated to the reign of the ruler depicted on them. However, it is also necessary to allow for the time it took the coin to reach the site. In western descriptions of these coins, the Arabic dates found on the coins are usually listed in square brackets, as above, and the European equivalent is listed after it.
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Viking Objects
Samanid Dirham Fragment (CM.840-2002)
This is a silver dirham which was minted during the reign of the Samanid ruler Akhmad Ibn Ismail (907-14) or Nasr ibn Ahmed (914-43) in Samarkand. The dirham was a unit of weight used across North Africa, the Middle East, and Persia, with varying values which also referred to the type of coins used in the Middle East during the Viking Age. These coins were extremely prized possessions not only for their silver value but as a way of displaying ones wealth, status, and vast trade connections. Millions of Arabic Dirhams would have been imported throughout the Viking world and are mostly found in hoards. Arabic coins are especially useful for dating sites, because they carry the date when they were minted. This permits precise dating where the part of the coin with the date survives, whereas European coins can only be dated to the reign of the ruler depicted on them. In western descriptions of these coins, the Arabic dates found on the coins are usually listed in square brackets, as above, and the European equivalent is listed after it. This coin was part of a hoard of twelve coins found at Thurcaston between 1992 and 2000. The coins are Anglo-Saxon, Arabic and Viking issues, and show the diverse and wide-ranging contacts between societies at this time. The hoard was probably deposited c.923-925 CE, approximately five years after Leicester had been retaken by Mercia (c.918 CE). They indicate that a bullion economy was still operating in the Danelaw as late as the 920s. This suggests that the reconquest did not manage to institute Anglo-Saxon practices such as a monetary economy immediately.
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Viking Objects
Breedon Silver Ingot (X.A236.2009.0.0)
A Viking silver ingot which could have been used as bullion in payments or trade transactions, as well as a source of metal for jewellery making. The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy where they paid for goods with silver that was weighed to an amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Hacksilver and silver ingots are the most common evidence for their bullion economy. It took some time for the Scandinavian settlers to adopt a monetary economy like that of the Anglo-Saxons, and both systems were used simultaneously for a while before they fully adopted the new system. They were familiar with monetary economies but they treated coins as just another form of silver before adoption of a monetary economy.
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Viking Objects
Coin of Burghred of Mercia (1989-58/3723)
A silver penny of Burghred of Mercia, found in the mass grave at Repton, minted by the moneyer Dudda, probably in London. Burghred was king of Mercia from 852-874 CE. He was driven out of Mercia by the Vikings during their march from Lindsey to Repton in 874 after they sacked Tamworth. Burghred fled to Rome, where he eventually died, and was replaced by Ceowulf II who was loyal to the Vikings. Minting coins was a way of controlling the means of exchange within a kingdom and which created a more easily administered standardized system of trade. Moreover, the coins themselves were often used as propaganda, portaying symbols and statements that gave off a desired message. The Vikings later used the minting of coins to legitimize their own rule.
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Viking Objects
Polyhedral Weight (SWYOR-3C5372)
This copper-alloy weight is of a type common within the Scandinavian diaspora. This example has fourteen sides and six dots on each of the rectangular sides. These weights were adopted by the Vikings from Middle Eastern examples and appear to have become a de facto weight standard for traders. Weights are an important form of evidence for Viking Age commerce and the use of standards across the different economic systems within which Vikings were integrated. Many of the weights discovered, particularly ones in Ireland and those of Arabic type, suggest that a standardized system of weights existed in some areas. These standard weights, alongside standard values of silver, are what allowed the bullion economy of Viking occupied areas to function. A bullion economy was a barter economy that relied on the exchange of set amounts of precious metal in various forms, such as arm-rings or coins, for tradable goods, such as food or textiles. Each merchant would have brought their own set of weights and scales to a transaction to make sure that the trade was conducted fairly.
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Viking Objects
Northumbrian Penny (NLM-0D491E)
This silver penny was minted in the name of King Eanred of Northumbria. The obverse shows a possibly helmeted and cuirassed individual and reads +EANRE AD RE; the initial cross doubles as X. The reverse reads +CO/ER/[?I]/HO/LI. This particular example was likely brought to Nottinghamshire from Northumbria by means of the Great Army’s overwintering activities in and around Nottingham.
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Viking Objects
Hack-gold (CM.1800-2008)
This rounded ingot terminal was cut from a larger rectangular ingot. Though rarer than hacksilver, this gold ingot formed part of the bullion currency used by Vikings in England and may be associated with their winter camp in Torksey.
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Viking Objects
Breedon Silver Ingot (X.A208.2010.0.0)
A cast silver ingot of typical Viking type. The photograph shows it alongside a lead gaming piece of a type that is increasingly being found within the Danelaw. This ingot could have been used as bullion in payments or trade transactions, as well as a source of metal for jewellery making. This particular ingot has slight irregularities from being made in an open mould and has two testing nicks on one edge. The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy where they paid for goods with silver that was weighed to an amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Hacksilver and silver ingots are the most common evidence for their bullion economy. It took some time for the Scandinavian settlers to adopt a monetary economy like that of the Anglo-Saxons, and both systems were used simultaneously for a while before they fully adopted the new system. They were familiar with monetary economies but they treated coins as just another form of silver before adoption of a monetary economy.
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Viking Objects
Coin of Pepin III (1989-58/3841)
This is a silver denier of Pepin III, also known as ‘the Short’ (King of the Franks 751-768), minted at Verdun. The Vikings would have obtained real and imitation Carolingian coins through their raiding and trading activities in the Frankish Empire.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Copper Alloy-Edged Lead Weight
A lead weight edged with a copper alloy band.
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Viking Objects
Reproduction Hacksilver
These white metal reproductions of Viking Age hacksilver are typical of hacksilver finds. The Scandinavians had a bullion economy in the Viking Age and paid for goods by weight of silver rather than by using coins with a set monetary value. Arm rings are one example of wearable wealth that could be cut up to pay for goods when needed.