Viking Objects
Reproduction Hammer-shaped Pendant
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.
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Viking Objects
Gold Ingot (BH-720251)
The Vikings arriving in England had a bullion economy in which they paid for goods, most commonly, with silver that was weighed to an amount agreed between the buyer and the seller. Though rarer than silver equivalents, this gold ingot formed part of the bullion currency used by Vikings in England. 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. The Vikings were familiar with monetary economies but they treated coins as just another form of bullion before adoption of a monetary economy.
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Viking Objects
Imitation Carolingian Gold Solidus (CM.521-1998)
This cut-quarter of an imitation gold solidus is one of 80 known imitations as opposed to 15 official solidi and is a copy of coins issued by Louis the Pious (778-840 CE). It was probably made somewhere in Frisia on the north-west coast of what is now the Netherlands. The importance of this carefully divided quarter-coin is as evidence for the acceptance of solidi on its actual monetary value rather than as mere bullion in the 9th century; if it were hack-gold it would not have been cut so meticulously. 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
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 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.
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Viking Objects
Merovingian Tremissis (LEIC-6BAA60)
This Merovingian gold tremissis was minted in Bourges in the late 6th or 7th century. It is possible that it made its way to England prior to Viking incursions but it is equally likely that the Vikings brought this coin with them as plunder after raiding in Frankia.
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Viking Objects
Gold Finger-Ring (BH-59ECD3)
An Anglo-Scandinavian gold finger-ring decorated with a punched a lozenge-shaped pattern of six triangles with central dots, surrounded by a circumferential band of punched rectangles with two dots. The ends of the wires are hooked, showing that they would originally have been twisted together. Rings like this with knotted ends are typically Scandinavian.
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Viking Objects
Hammer-Shaped Pendant (LCNCC: 2015.15)
A gold hammer-shaped pendant with an elongated pentagonal head, popularly called a Thor’s hammer pendant, from Spilsby, Lincolnshire. Hammer-shaped pendants are thought to be amuletic pendants designed to represent Thor’s hammer Mjöllnir. They are common in Scandinavia and in areas of Viking settlement in England. Those found in the Danelaw are generally undecorated or simply decorated, and are thought to have been made in England. The purpose of these pendants has been much speculated about, but nothing definite is known about it. 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.
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Viking Objects
Gold Finger Ring (DENO-F22E58)
This gold finger ring is made of a curved rod with a rectangular cross-section and bevelled edges. Rings like this with knotted ends are typically Scandinavian. Some examples of plain rings like this one were strung on bracelets in Scandinavia.
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Viking Objects
Gold Finger-Ring (NLM-FC0D13)
A gold finger-ring featuring punched ring and dot decoration. The arms of this ring would have likely been twisted together which is a typically Scandinavian technique.
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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.