Viking 5 Ortugar Weight

415, Lot: 677. Estimate $200. Sold for $360. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

Bronze plated five ortugar weight. Viking, 9th-11th centuries AD. Barrel weight with drill design (five pellets in cross pattern within circular border) on one flattened face. The outer surfaces are bronze, but such pieces typically have an iron core. Dimensions: 21x19mm; weight: 38.75g. Brown patina. Intact. For similar, see Nigel Mills, Saxon and Viking Artifacts (2001), p. 84, V235.

The Vikings relied on foreign coinage (European and Islamic), which they weighed and exchanged as bullion. Viking weights based on the ortugar were modeled after late Roman barrel weights.