Viking Age Silver 'Currency' Ingot. Circa 9th-11th century A.D. or later A hacked irregular hammered silver ingot, probably melted down loot creating a monetised piece of 'Hack' for Viking trade; X-ray Fluorescence analysis provides the following results: Ag (91.7%), Cu (4.09%), Fe (3.69%), Zn (0.19%), Au (0.19%), Pb (0.13%). See Hårdh, B., Silver in the Viking Age. A Regional-Economic Study, Acta Archaeologica Lundensia no.25, Stockholm, 1996; Blackburn, M., Viking Coinage and Currency in the British Isles, London, 2011. 32 grams, 30 mm (1 1/4 in.). [No Reserve]

Ex property of a UK gallery, early 2000s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Ingots of gold and silver were regularly produced in the Early Medieval period when trade took place between monetised economies (Anglo-Saxon England, Francia, Frisia) and their non-monetised neighbours in southern Scandinavia (Blackburn, 2011). Ingots were a convenient means of storing wealth which could be converted into display items (weapon fittings, clothing fasteners, tableware) or used to gild silver and bronze items (Hårdh, 1996).

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