Copper alloy cast Anglo-Scandinavian style knife handle, oval sectioned, expanding out to a spatulate terminal. Traces of iron corrosion at narrow end of handle where blade once attached. Handle decorated on both sides in Ringerike style. The motif resembles half a human or animal mask. Found by metal detector by Steve Budden near Winchester, Hampshire. Dated to the first half of the 11th century.
Knife handle
Anglo-Scandinavian, first half of the11th century AD
Found with a metal detector near Winchester, Hampshire
An unusual copper-alloy knife handle. Knife handles were most commonly produced in wood or bone, and few are known in metal. Traces of an iron blade survive as corrosion at the narrow end. The decoration, which is the same on both sides, is in the Ringerike Style found across Scandinavian northern Europe at this time, and resembles half a human or animal mask. The object reminds us that Anglo-Saxon England was very much part of the Viking World during the reign of King Canute and his successors.
