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Hoard

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From Burray, Orkney

Hoard
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These silver objects are part of a hoard from Burray in Orkney, which contained over 140 items of bullion and approximately a dozen coins, deposited in a wooden bowl. It is the second largest Viking Age hoard from Scotland.

The Burray hoard consists of complete and cut up objects, particularly bracelets of a distinctive Scottish form, known as 'ring-money'. Five of the six surviving coins are from Anglo-Saxon England, and one is from Germany.

In the Viking world, silver and, to a lesser extent, gold were used as a medium of exchange, weighed on balances. Any type of silver, complete objects or hacksilver, was valid as bullion. Much of the silver was nicked and bent to test its purity.

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