PAS Finds

PAS Finds (10 May 2024) – Viking weight with oval brooch

My selection of the detecting finds recorded at the PAS in the week ended 10 May 2024.

Featured Find

Viking weight with oval brooch

Photo: York Museums Trust CC By SA2.0
Object type: Weight
Period: Anglo-Saxon
Primary material: Lead
Date found: 30/04/2024
Location: Cottam, east Yorkshire

Although this looks unspectacular, it is considered to be a find of National Importance. It is slightly difficult to make out from the photographs, but it is a Viking lead weight into which a fragment of a copper alloy oval brooch has been imbedded. It is the rarity of the Viking oval brooch in the UK that gives this find its significance.

Danelaw and currency

Viking weights are widely known throughout its territories. They formed part of the bullion economy whereby repurposed or looted metal (mainly silver) could be traded. Although imprecise, the embedded objects in Viking weights allows them to be dated.

The establishment of a Viking settlement in part of England in the ninth century is known as Danelaw. The extent and nature of Danelaw is a matter of some debate. However, the dating of these “embedded object” weights suggest that a dual currency, bullion alongside coins, existed until at least 930 AD.1

Embedded weights

Many different objects have been found embedded in Viking weights, including glasswork and shells but metalwork, including coins, is the most common. Where metalwork is used, it tends to be centred on the decorative design. It is not clear why decorative objects were embedded in weights. Perhaps, it simply provided a means of identifying a particular weight or maybe the origin of the embedded object afforded some kind of status or geographic identity to the owner.

References

  1. ‘Viking’ Lead Trade Weights by An Oxford Historian, 24 April 2022

Selection of other finds

Photo: PAS CC By SA2.0

Dobunnic “Anted Rig” gold stater

A gold Dobunnic “Anted Rig” gold stater issued in the name of Antedios. The inscription reads ANTEΘ RICOV, using a Greek Theta instead of a D and with the RIC dispersed in the field below the horse. A Find of Note of County Importance.
Photo: York Museums Trust CC By SA2.0

Penny of Harold II

A penny of Harold II Godwinson dating to AD 1066. The reverse legend reads “LEOFNOD ON LEGI” giving the moneyer as Leofnoth and the mint as Chester. This is the first example of a Harold II coin for this moneyer and is a Find of Note of County Importance. Damaged when found (see EMC 2023.0242), the flan has been straightened and a small piece reattached.
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