Important 9th C. Viking Silver Thor's Hammer Necklace

Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Viking or Norse culture, ca. 800 to 1100 CE. An incredibly long, knitted chain made from 95.75% silver wire ending in to cast terminals that are pierced through and hooked onto a slender silver ring with coiled ends. Hanging between the terminals from the ring is a hefty, sizable Thor's hammer amulet, also known as Mjolnir, cast from 98.38% silver. The hammer is stamped with a series of petite circles on both sides of its head, and the handle is adorned with repeating triangular patterns. Size (chain): 23" L (58.4 cm); (Thor's hammer): 1.3" W x 1.75" H (3.3 cm x 4.4 cm); quality of silver: 95.75% for chain, 98.38% for hammer; total weight: 83.4 grams

Small Thor's hammers were worn as religious amulets throughout the Viking era, usually made of silver and usually hung on silver chains. Some even made it to the Christian era; there is a famous example of a Thor's hammer amulet from Fossi, Iceland, that has been turned into a cross (they are also invoked nowadays to describe the power of the surprisingly mighty Icelandic football team). The chain itself, meanwhile, is a style of knitwork done with thin silver wire that seems to have originated with the Vikings.

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. One of the most common archaeological finds from the Viking period is a hoard of metal objects, often buried in the earth or deposited in bodies of water, like riverbeds. These are found in great quantities throughout the British Isles and the Nordic countries. What was the meaning of such hoards? Were they treasures buried for safe keeping, perhaps by people fleeing violence who did not wish to travel with heavy loads and who died or forgot before they could retrieve them? Or does their presence in rivers suggest votive deposits, gifts and offerings to spirits who lived in the water?

This piece has been searched against the Art Loss Register database and has been cleared. The Art Loss Register maintains the world's largest database of stolen art, collectibles, and antiques.

Provenance: private New York, USA collection, acquired in May 2017; ex-Artemis Gallery; ex-private New York, New York, USA collection

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#167006
Condition Report: Light age patina, with some small areas of wear on the chain.