Wardstave Hand Made Helm of Awe Pendant with an Engraved Aegishjalmur Stave & Box Chain | Norse Protection Gift | RK-1665

The Wardstave is a hand made helm of awe pendant, a round disc with a bevelled polished rim and a flat face carrying the Aegishjalmur stave cut into it. Eight arms radiate from a small central ring, each one crossed with three bars and finished with the same trident fork, so the whole figure reads as a wheel of spears pointing outward. It hangs from a fixed bale on a fine box chain with a lobster clasp, and it arrives in a linen drawstring pouch.

The honest history here has two halves and they are worth separating. The name is genuinely old. In the Poetic Edda, in Fafnismal, the dragon Fafnir boasts to Sigurd that he wore the aegishjalmr above all people and that everyone who came near was afraid of him, and when Sigurd kills him he takes it. In the sagas it is something a person wears or carries, a helm of terror. The eight armed stave you are looking at is much younger. It is drawn in Icelandic grimoires from the seventeenth century onwards, including the Galdrabok, where the instruction is to press the sign in lead on the forehead between the eyes. So the idea is Viking age and older, the drawing is early modern Icelandic. It is made and finished in the Czech Republic. It belongs with the Norse pendants. If the shape is not quite right, the Mjolnir pendants run close to it.

Specifications

How to tell a Helm of Awe from a Vegvisir

These two get confused constantly, including by people selling them, and telling them apart takes about three seconds once you know the rule. Count the arms first. Both have eight. Then look at the ends. On the Helm of Awe all eight arms are identical, each one crossed with bars and each one finished with the same forked trident tip. On the Vegvisir every one of the eight arms ends differently, because they stand for eight different directions.

The meanings follow from the shapes. Identical arms pointing outward in every direction is a wall, and the Helm of Awe is about protection and about projecting fear at anyone approaching. Eight different arms is a compass, and the Vegvisir is about not losing your way. If a seller shows you eight identical arms and calls it a wayfinder, they are working from a low resolution image rather than from the manuscripts.

The metal, the engraving and the chain

We describe this plainly. It is a solid metal disc with a bright silver tone finish. It is not sterling silver, it is not hallmarked and we do not sell it as a precious metal. The advantage is a pendant that can be worn every day without softening, denting on a desk edge or needing a polish every fortnight, at a price a long way under the same design in silver.

The stave is engraved into the face rather than raised out of it, and the cut lines are darkened so the figure reads clearly against a mirror polish. Engraved work on a polished ground is the harder of the two options to do well, because every wobble in a line shows against a flawless surface, and it is the reason this pendant is finished by hand rather than tumbled. The chain is a fine box link, which is square in section and sits flat, and it is chosen over a curb link because a lighter pendant looks better on a finer chain.

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, the leather or the wood. 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 where it goes. Where a piece already carries an engraved design, your chosen engraving replaces it rather than sitting alongside it. On the Wardstave the front face carries the stave, so runes normally go on the plain back of the disc, where roughly sixteen characters fit in two lines. If you would rather have a different stave on the front, it takes the place of the Helm of Awe. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

The chain is 24 inches. On most adults that puts a 30 mm disc at mid chest, low enough to sit inside an open collar and well clear of a crew neck. It is a deliberately longer chain for a smaller pendant, because a small disc high on the throat tends to disappear against a collarbone while a small disc lower down reads clearly.

If you want it worn short and visible at the throat, ask for a 20 inch chain at checkout and we will fit one. If you are buying for someone with a neck measurement over 18 inches, or for someone who wears it outside a jumper, stay at 24 inches. The whole piece is under an ounce, so it is comfortable to sleep in, though we still suggest taking it off overnight because that is when chains get caught and pulled.

Care

Keep it out of chlorinated pools, salt water and hot tubs, since pool chemistry does more damage to a toned finish in an afternoon than a year of wear does. Take it off before applying aftershave, perfume or sunscreen, and put it on afterwards, because the solvents in those sit in engraved lines and dull them. Clean it with warm water, a drop of washing up liquid and a soft toothbrush, working along the engraved arms where oil collects, then rinse and dry it completely with a cloth. Do not use silver dip or an abrasive compound, because both will lighten the darkened lines and flatten the design. Keep it in the linen pouch when it is not being worn so the chain does not tangle with other jewellery.

Made in the Czech Republic

Every piece we sell is made by hand in the Czech Republic. The smiths there work the way the trade has been worked for a long time, heating and hammering the steel, taking the bevels down by eye, and fitting the handle and the leather one at a time. There is no automated line anywhere in it, so small differences from one piece to the next are normal and expected.

Ransack Viking is a United States company based in Chicago, Illinois. We bring the pieces in ourselves, inspect them on arrival and ship them from our own warehouse. If you add engraving, that is carried out here in the United States before your order goes out.

A note on handmade variation

This pendant is hand made, not machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The stave is cut by hand, so line depth varies slightly along each arm and the darkening will read a shade stronger or softer. The polish carries its own faint grain direction depending on how the disc was finished that day. The diameter, the design, the chain length and the fittings are the same every time. The character is not. If that is the part you care about, carry on with the Norse symbols and what they meant, then the Norse gods.

Frequently asked questions

Is this the same as a Vegvisir

No. This is the Helm of Awe, with eight identical trident tipped arms. A Vegvisir has eight arms that all end differently and is a wayfinder rather than a protection stave.

Is the chain included

Yes. The 24 inch box chain and lobster clasp come with the pendant, along with a linen drawstring pouch.

Is it solid silver

No. It is a solid metal disc with a bright silver tone finish and no hallmark, and we do not sell it as sterling.

Will the engraved lines wear away

The cuts are in the metal, so they cannot wear off. The darkening in them can lighten over years and can be redone.

Can I have runes on the back

Yes. About sixteen characters fit in two lines on the plain back face, in Elder Futhark or plain lettering.

How long before it ships

One to two weeks while the disc is polished and hand engraved, then free shipping inside the United States.

What is in the box

• Wardstave helm of awe pendant with a hand engraved Aegishjalmur stave
• Fine 24 inch box chain with a lobster clasp
• Linen drawstring pouch
• Care card for a silver tone finish
• Lifetime warranty against defects, no receipt needed
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the other Norse pendants, the Anglo Saxon and Celtic pieces, the wider accessories, and the guides for the difference between the Norse staves.

Others in the same line

A near match for this one is the Awestave Norse pendant. Closest to this in the range is the Wayfinder Norse pendant. If this one is not quite right, there is the Skybridge Norse pendant.

The Knotcinch Viking belt covers the other half of the same kit. You can have this made your way instead on the design your own page.