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If you want to buy a detailed Viking chain for your authentic representation in the Viking reenactment, then you will surely find what you are looking for in our medieval shop.
In the medieval shop of Pera Peris you will find a nice selection of beaded Viking chains, made with detailed replicas of metal beads according to historical models from the Viking Age, either made of high-quality bronze or available in real silver-plated.
For the individual design of Viking garb, an authentic Viking chain is simply a stylish as well as high-quality addition to medieval and Viking re-enactment and also a beautiful accessory for everyday life.
It was not only the Vikings who wore beaded chains. Already in late Roman times, necklaces made of glass and enamel from the provincial Roman areas were quite common in the north,
Even after the fall of Western Rome, the manufacture of beads continued in the Eastern Roman Empire. Thus, chains that could contain up to several hundred beads can often be found in tombs of that period.
Amber also appears as a material for necklaces in this period, whereby these were usually flat-spherical or had a disc-shaped form. Amber from north-Eastern Europe was very often used for these beaded chains. As was known later from the chains of the Vikings, there were also very large spherical beads made of amber in the Migration Period.
Since the people in the north in the early Middle Ages were still of pagan faith, the Vikings often gave their deceased chains as a burial gift.
It is therefore not surprising that chains with glass beads are among the most common finds in the Viking Age, along with shards of pottery and iron nails, and can be found in both poor and rich graves, with young Viking women often having more and old women rather less beaded chains as a gift.
Viking-era chains are primarily found in women's graves, whereas in men's graves there is evidence of single beads at best, for example to close a bag. As a major exception, a complete Viking chain with about 100 glass beads was found wrapped around his right arm on the island of Gotland.
Viking women usually wore their beaded chains close to their necks, but they could also reach far down to their chests, often with two or more chains strung between the pair of tortoise brooches. In eastern Sweden, on the island of Gotland and in the Baltic States, the Vikings also often used chain distributors, sometimes with a large number of chains attached one above the other.
The Vikings liked to thread their beads onto bronze wire, as had already been common during the Migration Period. It is interesting to note that the combination of the beads often appears quite arbitrary and the original Viking chains seem strangely disharmonious to today's viewers, as they do not follow any order that we can understand.
In addition to beads made of glass and metal, Viking chains could also have one or even more pendants on them and loops of wire could hold even more individual beads. Viking chains could have spherical, tubular, cylindrical, double conical, cubooctahedral or prismatic shaped beads. Some Viking chains were also provided with beads that were fruit-like fluted, while others were crystal-shaped faceted, and some were even underlaid with foils of gold or silver.
Most often, the Vikings wore chains with plain beads made of plain, and transparent glass in colours such as blue, green or purple.
In addition, however, there were also single- or multi-coloured beads made of glass flux or enamel, made of opaque glass paste in green, blue, violet, yellow, red or white, so-called mosaic beads or millefiori beads.
In addition, there were Viking chains with prismatic rock crystals and carnelians, which had reached the north from the faraway Orient via the Vikings' long-distance trade network.
While at first the Vikings mainly wore chains made of glass, in the second half of the Viking Age filigree beads made of silver or gold finally appeared, which could be spherical or double-conical as well as tubular in shape.
The Viking metal beads had their roots in the Slavic goldsmith's art, in which the goldsmiths of that time created all kinds of jewellery such as brooches, pendants and beads with so-called granulation decoration in filigree technique using the simplest means.
The basis for Viking chain was a hammered or cast model made of thin silver sheet, onto which the granulated jewellery elements were then soldered.
In the process, the solder left hardly any traces that could be seen by the eye, so it almost seemed as if the delicate granulations were floating above the surface of the beads.
We would be pleased if you liked this little excursion about beaded Viking chains and if you would like to buy an authentic necklace from the time of the Vikings in our online shop.
In the wide-ranging assortment of our medieval shop, we offer you not only Viking chains, but also a lot of other Viking jewellery, and so you can also buy the following Viking jewellery, among others
For the next Viking camp, you can get historically accurate equipment from us in no time at all and cause envious glances.
In addition to exact replicas of forged ring brooches based on historical originals, you can also buy detailed replicas of Viking trefoil brooches and authentic tortoise brooches, and in addition to Viking bracelets, finger rings and torques, you will also find a large selection of Viking belts and belt accessories.
For a proper Viking reenactment, we even provide you with the necessary camp equipment. You will not only find a well-stocked selection of drinking horns and drinking horn holders, but also many other medieval items such as well functional fire strikers, iron fittings and hinges for Viking chests and hand-forged Viking ironing scissors.
In our blog, you can also find out more about life in the Viking era and gain profound insights into life at that time.
When ordering from the Viking Reenactment Shop of Pera Peris you will benefit from many advantages, such as
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Pera Peris - House of History - your Viking re-enactment shop.
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