Lot 50

Description

Axe with shaft hole directly in the neck, with pointed shaft hole flaps on both sides at the top and bottom. The axe blade with a slightly curved cutting edge on the upper side is simply indented. The underside is indented twice with a point in the middle. The axe blade is perforated in the middle. On both sides of the axe blade there is a full-surface silver inlay: a triskelion, whose three extensions, starting from the points of a triangle with indented sides, each end in a dragon's head with elongated jaws. The inlay on each side has variations in the details: on one side, the ribbon-shaped dragon bodies arranged in a triangle are decorated with a zigzag pattern with circular eyes in the spandrels, on the other side with circular eyes between curved lines. The heads are also different, on one side with strikingly curved, serpentine, excessively elongated lower jaws. On the other side, they have jaws of equal length. The inlays on both sides of the shaft hole in the neck of the axe also differ, although the composition is basically similar: on one side, a circular eye with concentric lines surrounded by dots; on the other side, a quartered circle with dots in the quadrants, also surrounded by dots. On the neck of the axe is a small triskelion with spirals on the extensions. Length 14.7 cm. Height 11 cm. Surface partially rust-marked and covered with iron oxides. However, the inlay is well preserved and largely recognisable. An exceptionally beautiful and rare specimen of a Viking axe with typical features of the Jelling style. The results of an X-ray fluorescence analysis do not contradict the ancient origin of the forged iron.

Provenance: South German private collection, inherited from the consignor's father in the late 1990s.

Condition: II - Questions about the lot?