Viking Mask Amulet Pendant, Silver

Viking Head Pendant Gnezdowo

Handmade from real, solid bronze, delivered with leather thong. Very heavy and massive manufacturing! Size 54x38mm.

Very massive mask amulet with head of a god (?) after a silver original from the treasure find of Gnezdowo, which was discovered in 1868 and is until today Russia's most important Viking Age hoard find.

The Viking Age settlement was built at a place where the ships of Swedish traders and adventurers had to be pulled overland for a short distance in order to continue their way across the Dnieper to the Black Sea and thus to Constantinople. At this land bridge, a rich trading station was formed where western and eastern cultures met through the mediation of Slavic and Varangian populations.
These different influences are also reflected in the treasure find from Gnezdowo, which was probably deposited by a wealthy person. The treasure contains fascinating individual pieces, such as neck rings, brooches (buckles), variously decorated pendants, Arabic coins and a sword.

The mask amulet is one of the most interesting pieces. The depiction of the bearded man's head is found in a similar form on the Sigtuna Stone from Horsens Fjord on the beach of Snaptun, Jutland / Denmark (image 4, source Wiki Commons). It is a protective stone of a smithy's fair, which was supposed to protect the bellows from the fire.  The figure is most probably meant to represent Loki, who according to legend had his mouth sewn shut after losing a bet.
Since this detail is missing on the Gnezdowo pendant, however, an equation is not certain.

The Gnezdovo treasure is currently in the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg.