Tortoise Brooch of the Viking Era

Replica of a Viking tortoise brooch.

Here you can buy a Viking tortoise brooch replica that was made after a find from Saltvik on Åland dating to the 9th century AD.

This type of Viking brooch is known as tortoise brooch as well as oval brooch or bowl brooch.

This beautiful tortoise brooch replica of the Viking era is made of high-quality bronze and polished to a shiny finish. You can buy the brooch also in genuine silver-plated.

Tortoise brooches were worn on women's garments during the Viking Age and were attached below the shoulders to fix the apron to the garment.

This type of brooch was always worn in pairs in the Viking Age women's garb, so it is advisable to order two pieces of this Viking jewellery.
The price refers to one brooch.

Dimensions of the Viking tortoise brooch: 6 x 4 x 2 cm.

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In the period from 500 to 1000 A.D., such tortoise brooches were a typical part of the Northern European women's costumes and thus also a frequent addition to the Viking women's graves. The tortoise brooch was the most common type of brooch in the north during the Viking Age and can be found from Ireland to the Volga.

Apart from the frequent, cheap mass production and poorly cast copies that were already common at that time, there were also extremely filigree silver tortoise brooches and even gold-plated specimens. They served - always worn in pairs - to attach the shoulder straps of the upper garment to the apron.

Often one or even several chains were worn between the brooches, hung one on top of the other, and occasionally these were additionally attached to a round fibula or trefoil brooch in the middle of the chest.
An extensive treatise on the tortoise brooches of the Vikings can be found in the famous treatise "Vikingetide smykker" from 1928 by Jan Petersen.