Viking jewelry: what is authentic, what it means, and where to buy it

The best Viking jewelry at a market is a copy of a specific find, made by the person selling it. Thor's hammers, oval brooches and arm rings all have originals in museums. Ask which one. Skip anything with runes spelling English words.

What people actually wore

Jewelry in the Viking Age was money, status and fastening all at once. Silver arm rings were cut up to pay for things. Oval brooches held a woman’s apron dress together and showed her family’s wealth. Beads of glass, amber and rock crystal were strung between them. Men wore a cloak pin or brooch, a belt buckle and sometimes an arm ring. Pendants were common: Thor’s hammers, small crosses, miniature tools and animals.

The pieces you will see

Thor’s hammer. The best known Viking symbol and the most copied. Dozens of originals exist, from tiny iron ones to elaborate silver pendants like the one from Rømersdal in Sweden or the Skåne hammer with a fierce face. A good stall will name the find its hammers copy.

Oval brooches. Cast bronze, sometimes gilded, in pairs, in a handful of regional styles named after find sites: Berdal, Birka and others. The essential piece of a woman’s kit.

Arm rings. Twisted or plaited silver or bronze, open ended. Worn by both sexes.

Beads. Glass, often made at the stall over a flame, in colours and patterns that copy finds. Amber from the Baltic coast.

Pins and brooches. Ring pins, trefoil brooches, disc brooches, animal-head brooches from Gotland.

Rings. Simple bands and spiral rings in silver and bronze.

What to be wary of

Runes spelling modern words. Runic inscriptions on real jewelry are rare and are in Old Norse. A bracelet spelling your name in runes is a modern invention.

Vegvísir and other “Viking compasses.” The vegvísir comes from a seventeenth-century Icelandic manuscript, not the Viking Age. Reenactors do not wear it.

The valknut as a general symbol. It appears on a few picture stones in specific contexts. Its modern meanings are modern.

Runes as fashion. The “Viking” rune alphabet on most souvenirs is the wrong one; the Viking Age used the Younger Futhark.

None of this is a crime. It is just not Viking, and the strict markets keep it off the stalls.

Buying from a smith

Look for the maker at the bench. Ask which find a piece is based on; the answer tells you how serious they are. Bronze is the affordable metal, 30 to 150 euros for a pendant or brooch; silver from 100 into the thousands for large cast pieces. Pewter is cheap and soft and was not a Viking Age jewelry metal, though it is used for inexpensive copies. Prices at Nordic markets reflect Nordic wages and hours of work, and there is little haggling.

Where else to buy

Grimfrost in Sweden is the best-known online retailer and sells both accurate reproductions and looser fashion pieces; read the descriptions. Museum shops in Oslo, Copenhagen and Stockholm sell licensed copies of their own finds. Etsy has excellent smiths and a great deal of the other thing.

Last updated 2026-09-06. Prices and opening hours change; check the venue before you go. Back to Gear and reenacting or the festival calendar.