Accessories

What is actually in this collection

Most categories on this site describe one shape. This one does not. It is the default home for anything that is not a blade or a hafted piece, which means the range of materials is wider here than anywhere else on the site. There is vegetable tanned cowhide, ox horn, natural bone, slate, tumbled stone, oak, beech, maple, walnut, ash, cotton canvas, solid brass, stainless steel and forged carbon steel, sometimes in the same product.

Five broad groups cover it. Worn pieces, which is jewellery and beard work. Leather carry, which is belts, sheaths and scabbards. Drinking and table pieces. Things for a room, which is candle holders, chests, rune sets and games. And a small run of steel pieces that sit on their own.

Jewellery and worn pieces

The largest group on the page, and the one most often bought as a gift.

Pendants

Norse symbols cut or raised into a solid disc or a shaped face, supplied on a chain or a leather cord. Diameters run about 1.2 to 1.75 inches, thicknesses 2.5 to 3 mm at the rim, and chains 20 to 24 inches in box or curb link with a lobster clasp. Designs include the Vegvisir stave, the Helm of Awe, the Valknut, Mjolnir, a ringed Celtic cross and a raised Bifrost bridge. Finishes are polished steel or a silver or bronze tone metal.

Rings and arm rings

Rune rings with an Elder Futhark row cut in relief or sunk into the inside of the shank, Celtic plaitwork bands, and open twisted arm rings with spiral or rounded terminals. Band widths sit around 8 mm at about 2 mm deep, and sizing runs US 6 to 14 in whole and half sizes on the pieces made to order. Arm rings are open backed with an inner opening near 2.5 inches, adjusted by gently flexing the gap.

Beard combs and beard beads

Combs cut from a single piece of natural horn or carved bone, hand sanded and buffed, with teeth rounded individually. One horn comb ships in a plain wooden box. Beard bead sets come as flat stamped bands and twisted wire rings, sized for a braided section rather than for a finger.

Earrings

A small run of pairs, including shield shaped Celtic knotwork drops with beaded borders and hoops carrying a bearded axe head charm on a hinged snap closure.

Belts, buckles and leather carry

All the leather here is vegetable tanned or oak tanned cowhide, hand stitched with waxed thread and burnished at the edges.

Belts and buckles

Full grain belts cut from a single piece with no bonded filler layer, 1.5 inches wide, cut to order across waist sizes 30 to 46 inches, stamped with Elder Futhark rune lines or four strand Celtic knotwork. Buckles are heavy roller frames or tongue buckles in steel or solid brass, fixed with removable rivets or screw studs so the buckle can be changed. Two buckles are sold on their own without a strap, which the product pages state.

Knife sheaths and axe masks

Wet formed sheaths in bridle weight leather, hand stitched around a full welt with steel reinforcing studs, tooled with a raven, a Mjolnir or a knotwork panel. Fits are stated in the specification table, running from blades up to about 6 inches through to a 12 inch sheath taking blades to about 10 inches. Axe masks are notched at the back to sit over a bearded head and fit heads up to roughly a 6 inch cutting edge.

Sword scabbards

Cowhide over a shaped wooden core with a wool or fleece liner, about 33 inches including the chape, taking straight double edged blades to about 30 or 31 inches. Fittings are steel throats and chapes with solid brass rivets, and both are supplied with a matching belt or frog.

Drinking horns and table pieces

Horns are natural ox horn, polished inside and out and sealed with a food safe brewers lining. Capacities are stated per piece and run roughly 12 to 20 fluid ounces, varying because a horn is a natural cone and no two are the same size. Rims are polished brass or steel bands fitted to the mouth, and most come with a bridle leather belt hanger with a brass or steel buckle. Colour runs from cream and honey amber through smoke grey to near black, and it is different on every horn.

Horns are for cold drinks. Do not put a horn in a dishwasher, do not fill it with anything hot, and rinse and dry it after use rather than leaving it standing full.

Rune sets, games and pieces for a room

Rune sets come as 24 tumbled stones or 24 engraved slate tiles, the complete Elder Futhark in the three traditional aettir, supplied in a leather drawstring pouch with a printed meaning card. There is also an engraved slate plaque on a walnut base, about 10 inches by 7 inches with a knotwork Mjolnir inside a full ring of runes.

Games cover hnefatafl and kubb. The hnefatafl board is solid oak, 16 inches square with an engraved eleven by eleven grid and 37 turned hardwood pieces. Kubb sets come in beech or maple with ten kubbs, a king, six batons and four corner stakes, and ship with a canvas bag and a rule sheet.

Forged steel candle holders stand about 12 inches to the lip of the dish on a tripod or three branch foot, weighted low, taking pillar or taper candles on a pricket spike. Storage chests are solid oak or stained boards with brass or steel banding, strap hinges and a hasp lock, one dovetailed at the corners and supplied with a key on a leather fob.

Steel and timber pieces that sit on their own

A handful of listings here belong to no other group. There is a raised and planished one piece steel helmet with a T shaped visor slot and a fitted padded leather liner, sized for a head circumference of about 22 to 24 inches, and a 24 inch formed steel round shield with a shallow convex dome and leather arm straps. Both are described in their own tables as display and costume replicas rather than protective equipment, and that is exactly how they should be treated.

There are also turned hardwood training pieces, a 50 inch white ash bo staff with pressed steel ferrules and whipped cord grips, a 72 inch hardwood staff supplied with a canvas sleeve, and two nunchaku with 12 inch batons on welded steel chain. Alongside them sit a six piece set of Damascus broadhead arrowheads at 58 to 60 HRC with hand formed sockets, two keyring charm sets with miniature axe and hammer heads on hardwood hafts, and a five piece Damascus chef knife set with walnut scales. Check your local rules before ordering the staff and chain pieces, since several states restrict them regardless of length.

Sizes and materials across the range

Every figure below is taken from the specification panel of a piece on this page. These are hand made goods, and natural materials vary, so read the numbers as what to expect rather than as a guarantee to the millimetre.

Capacity on a horn and inner opening on an arm ring are the two figures buyers most often skip. Both vary piece to piece because both start as a natural material, and both are stated on the individual product page.

What we say about metal, and what we do not

The jewellery here is described by its finish rather than by a hallmark. Where a piece is polished steel with a silver tone, the specification table says polished steel with a silver tone and adds that it is not sterling silver. Where a set is a jewellery alloy in a bronze or rose tone, it says so and calls itself a finished costume piece.

That is deliberate. Plenty of Norse jewellery is sold online as silver when it is plated base metal, and a customer finds out the first time it wears through at the edge. We would rather lose a sale than describe a finish as a metal. If a product page does not claim sterling, it is not sterling.

The steel pieces are a different matter. The Damascus arrowhead set is 1095 and 15N20 hardened to 58 to 60 HRC, and the Damascus keyring charms are the same billet, hardened and etched. Those are real forged steel and the tables say what they are.

Care across the different materials

Leather softens to shape over a few weeks and wants an occasional wipe of conditioner. Do not soak it and do not dry it near heat. Horn and bone should stay out of dry heat, since both shrink as they dry and can crack, so keep a comb or a horn off a radiator and out of a hot car. Slate and tumbled stone need nothing beyond a dry cloth.

Brass darkens over months and comes back with a metal polish on a cloth. Steel candle holders and forged pieces are sealed or waxed, and a wipe with an oiled cloth after handling is enough. Oiled oak and walnut want a fresh coat of hardwax oil every year or two if the piece is handled often.

Engraving and gifting

Many pieces here can be engraved after they arrive in the United States, and a good number already carry a cut stave, rune line or knotwork panel from the maker. Names and dates go onto the flat of a leather strap, the face of a buckle, the band of a ring or the cheek of a keyring charm. Elder Futhark is a phonetic alphabet rather than a cipher, so a name is transliterated by sound, and there is no rune for the letter C.

Engraving is permanent and an engraved piece cannot be returned, so send the exact spelling and read it twice before you order.

Where these pieces are made

Everything on this page is made by hand in the Czech Republic. Finished pieces are imported to the United States, inspected by Ransack Viking in Memphis, Tennessee, and shipped from there, with engraving added after arrival. Natural materials mean real variation, so two horns, two bone combs or two pieces of slate carrying the same name will differ in colour, figure and exact size.

Browse related categories

• Damascus steel jewellery cut from offcut billet
• Norse pendants on chains and leather cords
• Leather sheaths, axe masks and sword scabbards
• Drinking horns with brass and steel rims
• Viking home decor for the wall and the table
• Viking belts, buckles and banners
• Hnefatafl boards and Norse lawn games
• Engraved and personalised pieces across the site

Guides worth reading first

• Viking symbols and what each one actually means
• Elder Futhark runes: the alphabet and how names transliterate
• The Valknut: three interlocked triangles and the evidence for them
• The Vegvisir: what the Norse compass stave really is
• Buying a drinking horn: lining, capacity and care