St Justin pewter Thor's Hammer I bought recently. St Justin make good things at reasonable prices.
http://stjustin.co.uk/
http://stjustin.co.uk/
Man Jewellery!
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I do, but no pictures of it currently.
I'll try and sort that out for you tomorrow if I can.
I used to wear this horn leaf which is one of a number I made a few years back. On a leather thong thin enough to snap rather than throttle me.
Then a few years ago Cap'n Badger made me this lovely piece to match my avatar, a really nicely done osprey.
I don't take it off, they even let it stay on when they did my last operation - they just wrapped it up to help avoid infection.
Tend not to wear other things as they can get caught up and end up hurting you. Though I do have some nice cufflinks and my Grandfathers watch-chain if I'm going somewhere posh.
Then a few years ago Cap'n Badger made me this lovely piece to match my avatar, a really nicely done osprey.
I don't take it off, they even let it stay on when they did my last operation - they just wrapped it up to help avoid infection.
Tend not to wear other things as they can get caught up and end up hurting you. Though I do have some nice cufflinks and my Grandfathers watch-chain if I'm going somewhere posh.
I used to wear this horn leaf which is one of a number I made a few years back. On a leather thong thin enough to snap rather than throttle me.
LOL. I had to read that a couple of times to get what you were saying. I had this awful image of a "leather thong" that I was afraid would give me nightmares.
That's way better than the leaves [leafs??] my google fu brought up.
three of four of those strategically arranged should do it
three of four of those strategically arranged should do it
I had one of those plants in my garden down south, I rescued the plant from an estate that was being striped back to almost bare earth. An awesome plant, my wolfhound used to hide under the leaves when the skies opened.That's way better than the leaves [leafs??] my google fu brought up.
three of four of those strategically arranged should do it
I am treading carefully here in respect of the very sensible rules of this forum.
First and foremost, What I am about to write does not in any way represent my personal beliefs which are based upon reason rather than faith of any kind.
I will also state categorically that I wish to disassociate myself from any of the pseudo Norse religious groups out there and the right wing politics they often endorse.
That out of the way hopefully, let's look at a little archaeological background. ( This is not an exhaustive report and as with all such summaries there are exceptions to everything I am about to write but they should be considered rare cases and not the most common practice.)
There are three main types of jewellery that appear in Male Viking age graves.
Brooches, pendants and rings. Brooches were used to fasten clothing, usually cloaks and are outside this particular discussion.
Pendants take many forms from natural objects such as animal teeth worn presumably for some talismanic reasons to the now popular hammer type pendants which we will discuss here. Hammer shaped pendants, thought to represent "Mjølnir" the hammer of Þórr, seem to be a late trend, possibly a reaction to the increase of cross shaped pendants introduced by Christian followers in the tenth century. Although some hammer pendents exist from before this period they are comparatively rare.
Broadly, they take two forms. The first and most common form is simple hammer shaped pendants made of metal, stone or organic materials such as bone.
The second form is of more elaborate, complex silver or gold pendents, often mounted on rings and sometimes with silver chains, featuring fine craftsmanship and representing valuable high status jewellery far beyond the means of most common people of the time.
The most usual interpretation is that these latter pieces belonged to wealthy and often powerful individuals that saga sources indicate often had religious as well as leadership duties to perform.
We know very little about the religious practices of the Vikings. Most of the "lore" we have about their gods comes from manuscripts written down by Christian scholars long after their conversion to Christianity. Much of this material is untrustworthy although on a personal level, as a storyteller, I find this body of material as fascinating as the archaeology and as such I have studied these sources a great deal.
What is very clear is that just like the "Celts" the original religious practices of the "Norse" peoples involved live sacrifice of creatures up to and including human beings.
Any of the revised "new age" Norse or Druidic "religions" therefore cannot be anything but re-enactments based upon fragmentary and often confusing evidence in just the same way as the battles fought by historical re-enactors every weekend where nobody actually dies. Believe what ever you will, but please understand the difference between history and modern practice.
The hammer pendant I normally wear is based upon a fine example found in Skåne. Unlike many of the modern replicas it is hollow and constructed by a silversmith just like the original. Most of the solid chunky jewellery sold today is produced as lost wax castings which quickly makes nice visual copies but the are far heavier than the originals and simply do not represent the way that precious metals were used at the time. Labour and time was comparatively cheaper then and silver more valuable.
Such an elaborate piece is likely to have been worn by a wealthy man who was possibly also a priest (goði) of sorts or at least skilled in the "lore" of the gods. (goðmálugr)
When on a living history event, I portray exactly that latter sort of character and the rest of my kit is in keeping with that role.
Now, onto rings. Rings are mentioned in many of the manuscript sources and are often associated in the later sources with temples. (Earlier sources say very little about temples, which suggests that they are also a late development and the consensus is that these gods were originally worshiped in open spaces or glades as mentioned in Roman sources.)
The later manuscript sources are mainly Christian and usually referring to the conversion, so some have a natural bias towards criticism, but in many of these sources, the rings in temples are described as being used to swear sacred oaths just as in the continuing use of a Bible or Quran in modern courts.
Rings are also referred to often as gifts from leaders to followers and retainers. A common kenning for a leader is a "Ring Giver" In both contexts these are usually arm rings or sometimes neck rings.
The archaeological record contains neck and arm rings, bracelets and finger rings in both male and female contexts.
They are represented in far greater numbers and wider form than the hammer pendants mentioned above and they seem to have been a much more common item. There are of course other reasons which may also explain this disparity.
The record also frequently contains fragments of such rings in horde finds which have been deliberately broken up, possibly as currency or a simple division of spoils. (The exact purpose of such hordes is a subject of constant argument.)
Some styles of arm ring in particular seem to have been purposely designed as a spiral so that one end could be broken off piece by piece for currency, leaving the remaining length as viable jewellery. This may also have a connection to the mythological ring "Draupnir" from which said to drip every ninth night, eight rings of equal weight.
The bracelet I normally wear is a "bullion" bracelet, quickly made and decorated from a simple bar of silver. Solid, heavy and representing a substantial value as currency. Again, consistent with the character portrayed by the rest of my display.
Interestingly, the hammer pendants are often mounted on rings rather than directly suspended on chains. (Just as can be seen on the hammer I have shown here.) It is thought that this may have some symbolic connecting to the "temple rings" but nothing is ever certain.
Perhaps this all has little relevance in the context of this thread but in my professional field, I feel it is important to qualify my advice with at least some explanation.
First and foremost, What I am about to write does not in any way represent my personal beliefs which are based upon reason rather than faith of any kind.
I will also state categorically that I wish to disassociate myself from any of the pseudo Norse religious groups out there and the right wing politics they often endorse.
That out of the way hopefully, let's look at a little archaeological background. ( This is not an exhaustive report and as with all such summaries there are exceptions to everything I am about to write but they should be considered rare cases and not the most common practice.)
There are three main types of jewellery that appear in Male Viking age graves.
Brooches, pendants and rings. Brooches were used to fasten clothing, usually cloaks and are outside this particular discussion.
Pendants take many forms from natural objects such as animal teeth worn presumably for some talismanic reasons to the now popular hammer type pendants which we will discuss here. Hammer shaped pendants, thought to represent "Mjølnir" the hammer of Þórr, seem to be a late trend, possibly a reaction to the increase of cross shaped pendants introduced by Christian followers in the tenth century. Although some hammer pendents exist from before this period they are comparatively rare.
Broadly, they take two forms. The first and most common form is simple hammer shaped pendants made of metal, stone or organic materials such as bone.
The second form is of more elaborate, complex silver or gold pendents, often mounted on rings and sometimes with silver chains, featuring fine craftsmanship and representing valuable high status jewellery far beyond the means of most common people of the time.
The most usual interpretation is that these latter pieces belonged to wealthy and often powerful individuals that saga sources indicate often had religious as well as leadership duties to perform.
We know very little about the religious practices of the Vikings. Most of the "lore" we have about their gods comes from manuscripts written down by Christian scholars long after their conversion to Christianity. Much of this material is untrustworthy although on a personal level, as a storyteller, I find this body of material as fascinating as the archaeology and as such I have studied these sources a great deal.
What is very clear is that just like the "Celts" the original religious practices of the "Norse" peoples involved live sacrifice of creatures up to and including human beings.
Any of the revised "new age" Norse or Druidic "religions" therefore cannot be anything but re-enactments based upon fragmentary and often confusing evidence in just the same way as the battles fought by historical re-enactors every weekend where nobody actually dies. Believe what ever you will, but please understand the difference between history and modern practice.
The hammer pendant I normally wear is based upon a fine example found in Skåne. Unlike many of the modern replicas it is hollow and constructed by a silversmith just like the original. Most of the solid chunky jewellery sold today is produced as lost wax castings which quickly makes nice visual copies but the are far heavier than the originals and simply do not represent the way that precious metals were used at the time. Labour and time was comparatively cheaper then and silver more valuable.
Such an elaborate piece is likely to have been worn by a wealthy man who was possibly also a priest (goði) of sorts or at least skilled in the "lore" of the gods. (goðmálugr)
When on a living history event, I portray exactly that latter sort of character and the rest of my kit is in keeping with that role.
Now, onto rings. Rings are mentioned in many of the manuscript sources and are often associated in the later sources with temples. (Earlier sources say very little about temples, which suggests that they are also a late development and the consensus is that these gods were originally worshiped in open spaces or glades as mentioned in Roman sources.)
The later manuscript sources are mainly Christian and usually referring to the conversion, so some have a natural bias towards criticism, but in many of these sources, the rings in temples are described as being used to swear sacred oaths just as in the continuing use of a Bible or Quran in modern courts.
Rings are also referred to often as gifts from leaders to followers and retainers. A common kenning for a leader is a "Ring Giver" In both contexts these are usually arm rings or sometimes neck rings.
The archaeological record contains neck and arm rings, bracelets and finger rings in both male and female contexts.
They are represented in far greater numbers and wider form than the hammer pendants mentioned above and they seem to have been a much more common item. There are of course other reasons which may also explain this disparity.
The record also frequently contains fragments of such rings in horde finds which have been deliberately broken up, possibly as currency or a simple division of spoils. (The exact purpose of such hordes is a subject of constant argument.)
Some styles of arm ring in particular seem to have been purposely designed as a spiral so that one end could be broken off piece by piece for currency, leaving the remaining length as viable jewellery. This may also have a connection to the mythological ring "Draupnir" from which said to drip every ninth night, eight rings of equal weight.
The bracelet I normally wear is a "bullion" bracelet, quickly made and decorated from a simple bar of silver. Solid, heavy and representing a substantial value as currency. Again, consistent with the character portrayed by the rest of my display.
Interestingly, the hammer pendants are often mounted on rings rather than directly suspended on chains. (Just as can be seen on the hammer I have shown here.) It is thought that this may have some symbolic connecting to the "temple rings" but nothing is ever certain.
Perhaps this all has little relevance in the context of this thread but in my professional field, I feel it is important to qualify my advice with at least some explanation.
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I am treading carefully here in respect of the very sensible rules of this forum.
Perhaps this all has little relevance in the context of this thread but in my professional field, I feel it is important to qualify my advice with at least some explanation.
No, that was interesting reading.
I didnt know the skane hammer was hollow, but I'd read it was a ravens head though.
Is that a solid silver chain as well?
And what did the finger rings typically look like?
What do the runes in the bracelet mean?
You get the same impression about the druids, that no-one really has a clue what they were like, either. As all the information was written down by tacitus, ceaser, ptolemy, etc.
I mean, digging up oak trees, then burying them upside down in the ground and building a wooden henge around them? What was that about.
I quite like watching francis pryor trying to figure it all out.
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Good thread and really interesting to hear your take on it Wayland. We can only make informed guesses and folk often take things as "gospel" when it's quite often something made up by a demented zelot on a hilltop in white robes in the 19th century.
Lovely pieces by the way, I especially like the "hacksilver" (though that seems a crude term for the piece) bracelet.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Lovely pieces by the way, I especially like the "hacksilver" (though that seems a crude term for the piece) bracelet.
Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.
Many of the elaborate hammers are of hollow construction. The chain is quite heavy which again is not typical Many "chains" were made of fine wire, using a technique called Trichonopoly which is a bit like French knitting.
The finger rings varied from simple bands to knotted rings much like the one you see on my hammer pendant.
The inscription is from the Havamal, which was supposed to be the sayings of Oðinn
and roughly translates as "Better weight than wisdom a traveller cannot carry, far better than gold will it be in a strange place."
As a craftsman it breaks my heart to see some of the fine piece that were just hacked up a left in the hordes. It's odd because they obviously loved decoration but sometimes showed scant regard for destroying objects of great beauty.
The finger rings varied from simple bands to knotted rings much like the one you see on my hammer pendant.
The inscription is from the Havamal, which was supposed to be the sayings of Oðinn
As a craftsman it breaks my heart to see some of the fine piece that were just hacked up a left in the hordes. It's odd because they obviously loved decoration but sometimes showed scant regard for destroying objects of great beauty.
Great info Wayland, made me have a look on the british museum site.
and a video of a different type here.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_...ngs/vikings_live/videos/twisted_arm_ring.aspx
and a video of a different type here.
http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_...ngs/vikings_live/videos/twisted_arm_ring.aspx
It's difficult to be sure without scale of some kind but looking at the shape that looks like the sort of ring that would be worn on the upper arm, probably visible on the outside of the tunic.
It's rings like that which we think are most likely to be the rings distributed to members of a leaders retinue.
They seem to be an important symbol for a warrior, referred to in many of the poetic sources such as Beowulf and it may also be connected to the oath swearing mentioned in the temples too.
It's possible that the giving and receiving of such rings was a two way act similar to the giving and receiving of fealty.
It's rings like that which we think are most likely to be the rings distributed to members of a leaders retinue.
They seem to be an important symbol for a warrior, referred to in many of the poetic sources such as Beowulf and it may also be connected to the oath swearing mentioned in the temples too.
It's possible that the giving and receiving of such rings was a two way act similar to the giving and receiving of fealty.
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I didnt know the skane hammer was hollow, but I'd read it was a ravens head though.
<Snip/QUOTE]
Sorry, I forgot to answer that bit. Ravens and Eagles are both connected to the battlefield. In reality this would be as carrion eaters. Mythologically, Ravens are generally associated with Oðinn and the Valkyries.
There also seems to have been rivalry between Oðinnand Þórr.
Þor's followers seem more often to be artisans, sailors and farmersrather than the more elite warrior classes of Oðinn's followers.
Eagles however have a much wider association.
There is an eagle that sits in the top branches of Laerad, the world tree, with a hawk (Vedfolnir) perching on it's brow. These may be associated with the archetypal sky god which is a role that may have originally been Týr's but later on seems shared between several gods including Þor.
Some of the gods and Jotuns (Often translated as "Giants") are able to change their shape into eagles which is a device used in many of the stories.
A Jotun in the form of an eagle (Hraevelg) is also said to cause the wind by beating it's wings at the edge of the world.
I think it is more likely to be an eagle, which in fact it resembles more than a raven, and is probably related to Þórr's role as a sky god.
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The ravens are not just associated With Odin, but a important part of his superiority over the other gods.
The ravens Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory) would fly out every morning over both the "Midgard" and "Åsgård", returning at night telling Odin everything they had seen and heard in the world of the gods and humans.
This was part of making Odin the most knowledgeable God of them all and thus the leader.
I didn`t know the Mjølnir pendants was Hollow, but it makes sence.
Much of the other goods was earlier smaller and thinner than we would make it.
The ravens Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory) would fly out every morning over both the "Midgard" and "Åsgård", returning at night telling Odin everything they had seen and heard in the world of the gods and humans.
This was part of making Odin the most knowledgeable God of them all and thus the leader.
I didn`t know the Mjølnir pendants was Hollow, but it makes sence.
Much of the other goods was earlier smaller and thinner than we would make it.
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