I have a Tortious shell Viking brooch it is insribed with the date M1V1V I would lie to know if any one of the other members has any Knollage of Viking Brooches?bjs2@cox.net

Bernie,

I am not certain your brooch would fall into the Arts & Crafts Movement. Without an image I am not able to give you any information on your brooch. Celtic designs were popular during the Movement and used as decoration on some items.

If your brooch was in fact made in 1154ad it definately does not fall into the time period of this forum discussion.

Good luck,
Fred

If you email me at my email adress I will send you my pictures of the brooch. thanks bernie. My email adress is bjs2@cox.net

Here's a little lesson on English art History. When the Vikings began to pillage the coasts of England, they influenced the culture. The Viking ships with carved mastheads, their jewelry, decorated knives, etc., had a particular unique style that evolved into an Enlish art movement called Hiberno-Saxon. The most unique feature of that style was a fear of white space or horri-vaccui. In other words, every square inch had a design. Even if were only make believe animals or scrolls or leaves, etc., the background, middle ground and foreground were always decorated with something.

Now, the English Arts and crafts movement took its philosophy from the "Dark Ages". The founders looked to the decorative artwork of the Medieval time period including Hiberno-Saxon art and Celtic art (Scottish and Irish) as their source.

A lot of the old bookends found on E-bay today that date from the 1900-1930's show a fascination with clipper ships,Viking ships, Pirate ships, etc. Many of the cast metal bookends that are not fabricated metal like Roycroft, Heintz or Benedict, are of viking ships. It is not far fetched to think that this brooch could be part of that revival.

Now, you have to find a jeweler's mark or something similar to compare and date the piece. I have also never heard of the Vikings dating their jewelry with Roman numerals.

Now, there is an example of a specific time period where Van Briggle pottery (an American firm) used Roman numerals to date their ceramics. Therefore, the practice of using Roman numerals to date A & C decorative art was used by a major A & C ceramic company. I bet that there are others out there that used roman numerals for dating. So this could be a common practice. The numbers on the brooch do not have to refer to a date but they could be a style or inventory number.

By the way, when I tried to look at your picture, I could only see the top 1/4. Is there a way to see the front and the back of the brooch? The way the pin is attached to the back can also help date the piece.

Bev.

Bev. If you email me I will Gladley send 5 pictures bjs2@cox.net