Museum Reproductions Web Shop

 

No 411 Middle Viking Period Pin

No 411 Middle Viking Period Pin Image

This lovely metal detector find was unearthed in East Anglia and is made of gun metal – An alloy of copper, zinc and lead.

“A pin cast with a highly stylised animal head terminal whose open jaws and teeth make a circular hold for suspension. The eyes are lozenge-shaped projections recessed under arching brows with a lozenge motif incised on the forehead and dotted fields to each side of the head. The nose expands to a blunt end with a bar where the top and bottom teeth meet. The back of the head runs back as three grooved bars with hollows between and there is a similar arrangement at the back; a grooved band runs around is section weaving in and out of the other ornament. The whole terminal tapers to the shank which has a square section and is broken off.”

“This is a dress pin designed to hold a suspension ring; ring-headed pins as a class were based on Irish forms but here the beast and its ornament are in the Scandinavian Borre style of the middle Viking period. It dates from the tenth century”.

Your Price:£4.29
Weight:10.00 g