Brooch (back)

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This large silver brooch was found at Skaill at Sandwick in Orkney, and is part of the largest Viking Age silver hoard found in Scotland. It was clearly meant for ostentatious display of wealth and status. This picture shows the back.

The ball-shaped pinhead and hoop terminals are plain on this side, although they are richly decorated on the other. The collars are decorated with incised lines. The missing section near one terminal was preserved separately in the hoard.

The Skaill hoard is a huge collection of silver. It weighed over 8 kilograms, equivalent in size to the largest hoards found in Scandinavia. The silver was probably the accumulated wealth of a Norse leader in the Scandinavian colony of Orkney.

Record details

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• Online ID: 000-190-001-231-C
• Image Rights Holder: National Museums Scotland
• Project: National Museums Scotland
  Project description   View all records in project
• Ref: National Museums Scotland  X.IL 1
• Date: Deposited between 950 and 970
  
• Material: Silver; large; extremities and head of pin shaped like thistle; engraved pattern on one side
  Brooch, penannular
  
• Dimensions: 5.50" - 8.00" D
  
• What: Brooch, penannular
  
• Subject:
• Who:
• Where: Scotland, Orkney, Sandwick, Skaill
  
• Event:
• Description: Viking silver penannular ring brooch with thistle-shaped extremities and pinhead and an engraved pattern on one side, from Skaill
  
• References:
  • Graham-Campbell, James. The Viking-age gold and silver of Scotland (AD 850-1100). Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland, 1995, pp. 34-48, 108-9. 
• Translations:
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