Ca. 700-900 AD A heavy silver bracelet with incised decoration in the form of lozenges and raised dots, perhaps designed to imitate the scales of a serpent or dragon, and recurved coiled terminals. In Viking society bracelets were not just decorative, but also served to mark bonds of loyalty between a lord and his followers in a culture where honour was a matter of life and death. Such items were also given to young men to mark their coming of age and bracelets of precious metals were also used as currency in a time before the widespread availability of coinage. Size: L:66mm / W:60mm ; 62.84g Provenance: Private UK collection; From an old London collection formed in the 1990s.