4th - 7th century AD. A gold bucket pendant with squat, barrel-shaped body, flat base and loop handle, decorated with applied granules. 0.74 grams, 11mm (1/2"). From the family collection of a UK gentleman, by descent in the early 1970s; previously acquired before 1960. Pendants in the form of miniature buckets have been found in a number of pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking contexts and are generally made of bronze or iron, with gold examples being rare; three gold examples were found with the hoard from Hoen, Norway. Bronze bucket amulets have been found at Driffield in Yorkshire, and Vimose bog in Denmark, among other places. In form they represent wooden buckets bound with bronze or iron bands which are believed to have held mead or ale and were used to replenish the cups from which warriors drank. As amulets they probably represent the ecstatic power of drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages. [No Reserve] Condition Report Very fine condition.