**First Time At Auction**

Northern Europe, Viking / Norse peoples, ca. 8th to 11th centuries CE. A collection of varying shades of blue, dark red, and purple ancient glass beads, grouped together on the end of a modern plated brass chain. By 800 CE, the Vikings were trading across a huge area, from the islands of the North Atlantic (the first glass beads known from North America appear to have come from the Viking trading post at L'anse aux Meadow, Newfoundland) to northern Russia and the Islamic world; glass beadmaking was a standard in many of the regions they visited, and so they returned home and established beadmaking workshops in Scandinavia and traded them at the great trading emporia / wics like Hedeby and Birka. Beads were often worn as festoons strung between oval brooches, though sometimes also as necklaces. Length of strand: 22" L (55.9 cm)

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection

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#129640

Beads are in nice condition, with patina on surfaces commensurate with age. Modern stringing.