Viking Bone Needle box from Birka

Viking needle box replica from Birka.

Here you can buy a Viking needle box of bone that is crafted after a historical model from the Viking town of Birka in Sweden and has a ring made of brass wire, as was typical of Viking needle boxes.

Needle boxes were not only used by the Vikings but already used in Roman times. They were used to store the delicate and then really precious needles made of bone, iron and bronze safely and securely. With the ring made of brass wire, these needle boxes were easy to fasten to the garment.

The Viking needle box of bone measures approx. 7 x 1.5 cm.
The opening has a diameter of 1 cm.

The bone of the Viking needle box is open on both sides. We recommend placing a piece of virgin wool in the needle box - this provides the necessary hold for the needles and ensures that they do not slip out and are still easy to grip. 

To ensure that the delicate needles made of bone or metal did not get lost but were always at hand, Viking women usually carried a needle box with them. Such a Viking needle box was often made of bone or antler, but there were also needle boxes made of bronze in the Viking Age.

In Viking times, needle boxes were usually worn on a ribbon or chain hanging down from one of the two bowl fibulae and were thus always at hand. Thus, such needle boxes are often found among the grave goods of Viking Age graves as a costume component.