Lot 58
Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 9th to 11th century CE. An incredible bracelet constructed from high-grade (98.5%) silver and boasting a broad, spiraling form. The bracelet body coils more than twice around itself and has a hammer-smoothed interior surface that would have been comfortable to wear. Hundreds of impressed holes form a crisscrossing pattern with broad spaces along the exterior of the body, and within gap is a stamped triangular symbol that was a popular motif throughout the Viking world. Four triangles along each end face towards their respective, rounded terminal, and the triangles across the body alternate direction in a visually stimulating manner. Covered in smooth patina, this is a fabulous example of wearable Viking artistry! Size: 2.625" W x 1.375" H (6.7 cm x 3.5 cm); quality of silver: 98.5%; total weight: 105.1 grams.
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. Silver was the principal currency of the Viking world, which stretched from Russia to northern Canada at the height of its influence. In many places, the Vikings kept silver not as coins, but as jewelry, a wearable currency form that was not subject to the authority of a monarch or mint.
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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#153453
- Condition: Wearable as shown. Slight bending to overall form of some areas, with minor abrasions to body and terminals, and very light encrustations within some stamped details, otherwise intact and near-choice. Smooth patina throughout.
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