Description:

Northern Europe, Viking / Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. A solid bronze pendant in the form of Mjolnir, the legendary hammer of the lightning god Thor, suspended from a copper ring. The amulet was skillfully hammered into the form of a hammer with a gently pointed head. The head was cast with a long handle that ends in an integral loop for suspension. A decorative trim panel of 90% silver with traditional Viking designs is displayed just above the hammer head. Size: 0.3" W x 1.4" H (0.8 cm x 3.6 cm); (w/ suspension loop): 2" H (5.1 cm); quality of silver: 90%.

Thor's hammers were worn as religious amulets throughout the Viking era. Some even made it to the Christian era; there is actually a famous example of a Thor's hammer amulet from Fossi, Iceland that was rendered into the form of a Cross. Scholars believe that Thor's hammers were made to be worn suspended from brooches, and most examples that we know from graves in Scandinavia belonged to women. 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.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) and then Latvia collection; found on the Baltic Sea coast prior to 1982

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#157672

  • Condition: Light softening to some impressed details and minor encrustations, otherwise intact and excellent. Great patina throughout.

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August 20, 2020 10:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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