Roman Multitool

Although my projects generally focus on viking age pieces, there’s lots of fascinating and amazing historical artifacts from many time periods that I take interest in.  Several years ago I stumbled upon this 3rd century CE Roman multitool and was intrigued by it. Amazing that this complex piece, so like a modern multitool, was made

Roman Multitool Read More »

Norse Inspired Pelican Medallion with Filigree and Granulation

Another SCA peerage medallion, this one for the elevation in Drachenwald.  The medallion design was inspired by a small number of disc-shaped pendants depicting animals. One example is a find with a two-headed bird from Gnezdovo shown below. I’ve found additional examples on auction sites and other unverifiable online sources of animal shapes depicting birds

Norse Inspired Pelican Medallion with Filigree and Granulation Read More »

Touchstones

Throughout the history of the trade of precious metals, having means to judge the metal’s purity has been essential to ward of forgery and adulteration.  While various chemical and/or heat-based methods have been known for hundreds of years, a simpler nondestructive method using a touchstone is probably much older. The metal in question would be rubbed

Touchstones Read More »

Laurel & Pelican Medallion with Granulation & Filigree

A Laurel/Pelican medallion for Countess Richenda de la Selva on the occasion of her elevation tot the oder of the Pelican, using filigree & granulation techniques similar to those used for my bucket shaped pendants.  Richenda’s persona is 15th c Swedish, so the design reflects an attempt at a later aesthetic than typical for viking

Laurel & Pelican Medallion with Granulation & Filigree Read More »

Bucket Shaped Pendants

I ran across some objects on auction sites (worthpoint.com, invaluable.com, drouot.com & others) labelled variously as Viking Bucket Pendant, Scandinavian Pre-Viking Bucket Pendant, Anglo-Saxon / Viking Filigree Bucket Pendant, Pre-Viking Filigree Aroma Bucket Pendant, or Bucket Pendant from the Pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking Times.  There is a wide variety of different information regarding their time

Bucket Shaped Pendants Read More »