Meadhorn Handcrafted Norse Viking Beer Mug with Polished 100 Percent Natural Horn Body | Norse Drinking Groomsmen and Wedding Gift | RA-611

The Meadhorn is a Viking horn tankard made from a single piece of one hundred percent natural horn, cut, shaped, hollowed and polished by hand. It stands 5.5 inches tall. There is no steel in it, no resin, no moulding and no casting. It is the same material northern Europe drank from for well over a thousand years, worked the same way, and it behaves like a natural material rather than a factory product.

Drinking horns are older than the Viking Age and they outlasted it. The two gold horns of Gallehus, found in southern Jutland and dated to the early fifth century, show the form was already ceremonial long before longships. Anglo Saxon and Norse graves have given up horn mounts and rims in silver and bronze, the Sutton Hoo ship burial included drinking horns made from aurochs horns, and the Gotland picture stones repeatedly show a woman offering a horn to a rider arriving in the hall. That image is the reason the horn matters. In a Norse hall the vessel was passed, not owned, and the offering of it was a formal act of welcome. Snorri Sturluson keeps the object at the centre of one of the best known myths as well, when Thor is handed a horn in Utgard and cannot drain it because Utgarda Loki has run the tip of it into the sea.

Each Meadhorn is finished and polished in our workshop in Memphis, Tennessee and packed with protective wrapping. Shipping inside the United States is free, processing takes one to two weeks, and returns are accepted within seven days.

Specifications

What horn actually is, and why it was used

Horn is keratin, the same protein family as hair and fingernail, grown over a bony core on cattle and other bovids. That single fact explains everything about how a horn tankard behaves. Keratin is layered and thermoplastic, which means it softens with heat and holds a new shape when it cools. A horn worker can open a horn out, press it flat, or set a curve, and it will stay where it is put. Before plastic existed this was the closest thing available to a mouldable material, which is why horn was used for combs, spoons, lantern windows, powder flasks and drinking vessels across the whole of Europe.

It is also naturally hollow at the wide end and naturally tapered, so a drinking vessel is almost the least work you can do to it. Cut off the solid tip, clean out the core, scrape the inside smooth, polish the outside, and you have a cup. Norse smiths and craftsmen did exactly that, and the ones that were valued got rims and tips mounted in bronze or silver.

Because it is grown rather than made, every horn is a different colour. Some come out almost translucent amber, some are heavily marbled in charcoal and cream, some are near black. The banding follows how the animal grew, so it cannot be specified, matched or repeated. What you receive will be within the family of tones in the photographs and it will not be identical to them.

Why natural horn and not steel or resin

A stainless tankard is easier to make and easier to sell. It is also a completely different object. Horn does something metal cannot, which is that it barely conducts heat. A cold drink stays cold in a horn far longer than it does in steel, and the outside never sweats or numbs your hand. Horn is also light for its bulk, so a full Meadhorn does not sit heavy at the wrist.

The other reason is honesty. A cast resin horn with a printed grain is a picture of a horn. This is the material itself, with its own grain, its own smell when it is worked, and its own small imperfections. In exchange you accept its limits, which are real. Horn does not like heat, it does not like a dishwasher, and it does not like being left full overnight. Treat those as rules rather than suggestions and it will last for decades.

Holding it, filling it and looking after it

Rinse the horn with cold or lukewarm water before the first use and again after every use, then dry it inside and out. Cool drinks only. Mead, ale, cider, water and spirits are all fine. Hot liquids are not, because heat is what softens keratin, and a horn that has held boiling coffee can distort permanently.

Never put it in a dishwasher and never soak it. Detergent and prolonged immersion strip the natural oils out of the horn and leave it dull and prone to fine surface cracking. If the outside starts to look chalky, a light rub of food safe mineral oil or beeswax brings the depth back in a minute. Store it dry, upright and out of direct sunlight, and keep it away from radiators and hot cars. Handled sensibly, a horn cup will outlive the person who bought it, which is the reason so many of them survive in museum cases.

Engraving, runes and your own design

Use the rune converter on this page to turn a name, a date or a short phrase into Elder Futhark and we will cut it into the steel or the handle. If you would rather have a Viking pattern than a rune line, choose your own design in the engraving option above the add to cart button and tell us whether it goes on the blade or the handle. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On this piece the work is cut into the polished outer face of the horn, which takes fine line work well and holds it for good. Wedding parties, groomsmen and anniversaries are the most common reason people ask. Detail and pricing are on the engraving page.

Forged in Memphis

Ransack Viking works out of a shop in Memphis, Tennessee. The horn is selected, cut, hollowed, sanded through grits, polished and engraved here. Nothing in this listing is drop shipped from an importer catalogue with a logo added on arrival, which is why the lead time is a stated one to two weeks instead of a same day promise we could not keep. If a horn does not come out right it goes in the bin rather than in a box.

A note on handmade variation

This tankard is made by hand from a natural material. It is not machine made and it is not bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Colour, banding, translucency, the exact curve and the precise wall thickness all vary, because each one grew on a different animal and was worked by a person rather than pressed in a mould. The height, the construction and the standard of finish are the same every time. The character is not, and the variation is the evidence that it is real horn.

Frequently asked questions

Can I drink from it straight away?

Yes, once you have rinsed it out with cold water. The inside is scraped and polished during making, but a first rinse clears any residual polishing dust.

Will mine be the same colour as the photograph?

No, and it cannot be. Horn colour is decided by the animal it grew on. Yours will sit in the same range of amber, cream, charcoal and near black, with its own banding pattern.

Can I put hot drinks in it?

No. Keratin softens with heat and a hot liquid can warp the horn or loosen the natural structure. Cold and cool drinks only, and never leave it in a dishwasher or a hot car.

Is there a handle on it?

This is a horn tankard cut from the natural taper of the horn rather than a tall handled stein. It is designed to be held in the hand and passed, which is how the originals were used in a hall.

Did Vikings really drink from horns like this?

They did, and the evidence is physical rather than romantic. Horn rims and metal mounts survive in Norse and Anglo Saxon graves, the Sutton Hoo burial included horn vessels, and the Gotland picture stones show a horn being offered in welcome. The horns themselves usually rot away, which is why the mounts are what archaeologists find.

How long does an order take to arrive?

Processing runs one to two weeks because each horn is finished individually, then shipping inside the United States is free. Add engraving at checkout if you want it, and tell us if you are working to a wedding date.

What is in the box

• One Meadhorn natural horn Viking tankard, 5.5 inches tall
• Protective packaging
• Forged and finished in Memphis, Tennessee

Explore the range

Related collections: Viking Beer Mugs, Viking Shields, Viking Helmet and Viking Knives. The history and the care instructions are written up in the guides.