Viking gold ring, 9th - 10th century AD. 33mm x 8mm, 17.5g. ...

Hammer

£800

Viking gold ring, 9th - 10th century AD. 33mm x 8mm, 17.5g. This heavy, high-carat gold ring was found whilst metal detecting in Norfolk and reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. The report to HM coroner states:
Gold ring or oval loop, now squashed flat in the centre, but probably originally roughly circular. Each end has a slightly concave exterior, but the rest of the hoop is rectangular in cross-section. The top and bottom faces of the hoop have fine oblique scratches, probably from finishing with a file; the interior also has less tidy longitudinal striations. The exterior has an irregular central line of scattered indentations, probably peck marks, running along either main face; one edge has two cut marks and two possible peck marks, and the other has some possible pecking. The peck marks consist of small U-shaped gouges and tiny triangular shapes made with a pointed instrument.
 Plain gold rings are known both individually, and within weight-adjusted groups of interlinked rings of different sizes. Whether such items were ever used as finger-rings is uncertain, but the size is certainly consistent with that use. However, the weight is also consistent with a weight-adjusted piece of bullion. At 17.5g it is two thirds of a Viking ounce of c. 26.6g, which is one of the main suggested weight units for the Viking Age, while the ertog (one third of an ounce) appears on the basis of both textual and archaeological evidence to be one of the most common sub-divisions.

The secondary testing is also characteristic of metalwork from Viking hoards. Both edge-nicking and surface pecking appear to have been widely used on Viking objects, probably primarily to check that the object was not plated, or alloyed with another metal, although some scholars have suggested that the process may have had more of a ritual function, validating transactions. The edge nicking here does seem typical of the Viking Age.'

The specific gravity of the ring has been measured at 18.59 g/cm3 indicating a gold purity of >95%.

Reported as potential treasure (2021T372) and disclaimed by the Crown.

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/1027143