Code: 13057
This is an excavated Viking bronze amulet pendant, dating to the 10th-11th centuries. Such pendants were made to exhibit amulets such as teeth and claws; they would have been secured within the pyramidal mount, acting as a story bead in a necklace or chain. During the Viking period, beads and amulets were traded and passed down through successive generations, each with a story to tell. The sagas could be woven in myth and battles, sometimes between man and ferocious wild beasts - the shape of this amulet would suggest to me it once held a claw or a sharp wolf canine. Sadly, the original bone amulet has deteriorated in the ground, and we only have the bronze case, which is still an interesting object with a nice olive-green patina.
OBJECT: Amulet pendant
CULTURE: Scandinavian Viking
DATE: c. 10th - 11th century A.D.
MATERIAL: Bronze
SIZE: 25mm x 10mm x 9mm
WEIGHT: 2.92 grams
PROVENANCE: formerly in a private collection, Clevedon, Somerset, GB
