EARLY MEDIEVAL FINGER RING

900

Viking silver finger-ring. Surface metal analysis conducted at the British Museum indicated an approximate silver content for the ring of 98%, the remainder being copper with small amounts of gold.The ring consists of two plain rods and two finely twisted wires twisted together and tapering at the back, where they are hammered together.The form is a miniature version of Viking-period gold and silver neck and armrings of around the 10th-11th centuries, like those from Skaill, Orkney, and Wipholm, Germany; and this type of ring appears to have continued in use somewhat later in Denmark at least (J. Graham-Campbell, 1980, Viking Artefacts. A select catalogue, London, nos. 217 and 221; F. Lindahl, 2003, Symboler i guld og sølv. Nationalmuseets fingerringe 1000-1700-årene, Copenhagen, nos. 8, 10, and 13).