9th C. Viking Stamped Silver Torc / Necklace

Northern Europe, Viking / Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. A large, curved 99% silver torc of lunate form with stippled and stamped designs on its upper face in repeated triangle and clover forms. The terminals are curved into tight spirals, then straighten out into pins that fit into the spirals to act as clasps. This is really a gorgeous item that would have signified wealth and high social status for its wearer, who may have been a man or a woman in Viking society. The torc likely ended its functional life deposited in a river or lake, probably as an offering to the gods. Size: 7.5" W (19 cm); silver is 99%; total weight: 181.4 grams

Old Icelandic Viking literature brings us a story about the power of torcs like this one. The goddess Freyja owned a torc called Brisingamen, of which the first half of the compound word, brisingr, means "fire "or "amber", and the second half, "men", means "neck ring/torc of precious metal". This gleaming torc is so famous that it is mentioned in "Beowulf", the "Poetic Edda", the "Prose Edda", and the "Flateyjarbok Saga" (and later inspired a story in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion"). In various stories, it is stolen, often by the trickster god Loki, and Freyja's wrath is terrible until the necklace is returned to her. In the "Poetic Edda", Thor borrows Brisingamen to disguise himself as Freyja and attend a wedding in the homeland of the giants, Jotunheimr. The importance of the torc as a signifier of social standing - especially related to one of the most powerful women of the Norse pantheon - emphasizes what a fine item this example is.

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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#151358
Condition Report: Excellent condition. The silver has been polished.