Near the entrance to the Viking display at the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) there was a really small display – featuring a single silver coin. It was just one of many exhibits that included coins used as personal embellishment.
The coin has a ship motif on one side, and was found at Lolland, Denmark. It’s been dated 825-850 CE. The coin has a hole punched at the top, suggesting it was worn as a pendant.
Shield motif pendant
There was also a single shield motif pendant nearby. (Not a coin, but similar in size) The pendant was found at Nørholm, Jutland, Denmark, and was dated 775-950 CE.
Øster Halne Enge necklace
There was also a fantastic necklace embellished with coins. The display listed this as “Islamic coins used as hanging ornaments strung from a string of beads”, found at Øster Halne Enge, Jutland, Denmark.
Kannikegærde Hoard
Finally, there was a coin hoard, including many coins that had been pierced to use as pendants (or otherwise string) as well as some with bails added, absolutely meant to string and wear as a pendant.
This hoard is from Kannikegærde, Bornholm, Denmark. The hoard includes coins, many of which are still intact, silver ingots, jewellery, and hacksilver. The hoard is dated 900-1000 CE.
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[…] set of jewelry from the RAM exhibit was the set from Øster Halne Enge, Jutland, Denmark. I’ve blogged about this previously here. This set is dated 775-950 CE, however the museum did not provide any information about the beads, […]