9th-10th century AD. A copper-alloy fire steel with bifacial handle formed as a wolf biting the legs of an advancing lion(?), the wolf's jaws around the lion's leg and chest, the lion's jaws around the wolf's neck; detailing to the animals' faces and manes in low relief; rectangular iron block below with striking surface See Cacciandra, V. & Cesati, A., Fire Steels, Turin, 1996, for discussion.28.5 grams, 57mm (2 1/4"). From a private Northwest country collection; formerly acquired in the late 1950s; accompanied by a collectors cataloguing slip. This piece bears many similarities to a hoard found on the island of Hiddensee in the Baltic Sea. The hoard consisted of a classic Borre-style disc brooch, a neck ring of four twisted rods and a necklace of ten stylised cruciform pendants, such as this example. The items constitute a single set of jewellery and seems to have been a gift from a Danish nobleman intended for presentation to a Slav woman of high standing. They were buried for safety en route, during some local emergency that resulted in it not being claimed. Evidence for the production of pendants in the Hiddensee style is provided by the remarkable find of forty-one bronze dies, as used for the manufacture of the pressed sheets onto which the filigree wires and granules were soldered. These dies were kept together in a leather bag, which had been dropped in the harbour at Hedeby. [No Reserve]