Northern Europe, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 8th to 11th century CE. A beautiful high-grade silver (99% silver) wire bracelet of an elegant presentation comprised of a single strand of twisted silver in a knotted and looped style. The layered strands compose the circular wrist band, and the unseen terminals culminate within a hammered sheet-silver tube with four small rivets and stamped circular, triangular, and rhombus motifs. Four abstract, drop-form faces each bear two enormous circular eyes and perhaps represent a deity of unknown identification. A gorgeous and wearable example of fine Viking silver! Size: 3.5" in diameter (8.9 cm); size of wrist hole: 2.875" in diameter (7.3 cm); quality of silver: 99%; total weight: 60.8 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 their 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
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#139045
Condition
Wearable as shown. Surface wear and minor abrasions commensurate with age, light encrustations in lower profile areas, and light fading to stamped motifs, otherwise intact and excellent. Nice earthen deposits throughout.