Wardhold Hand Made Viking Storage Chest | Domed Lid in Dark Stained Solid Wood | Brass Straps and Studs with Helm of Awe Engraving | Norse Home Gift | RK-1781

This is a brass bound storage chest with a domed lid, built from solid boards, stained dark and finished so the grain still reads through the colour. Five brass straps run over the lid and down the front and back, studded along their length, and the corners are protected by brass angle. There are cast brass carry handles on both ends, a brass hasp and staple at the front, and a brass padlock with its key.

Chests mattered more to the Norse than furniture usually does to anyone. A Viking ship had no cabins and very little fixed storage, so a man’s chest was his wardrobe, his strongbox and, on many reconstructions, his seat at the oar. The Oseberg ship burial produced several, and what is striking about them is how heavily they are built for their size. The lid boards are thick, the ironwork is generous, and the whole thing is designed to be sat on, stood on, dropped onto a beach and picked up again. A chest that could not take that was not worth carrying.

Made, jointed, stained, engraved and fitted by hand in the Czech Republic. It ships assembled with its padlock and key. Kept with the Viking home decor, and worth setting against the rune stones and rune sets before you decide.

Specifications

What the Helm of Awe actually is

The stave cut into the lid is the Aegishjalmur, the Helm of Awe. Eight arms radiate from a centre point, each one ending in a set of crossbars and trident tips. It is one of the most recognisable Norse symbols in the world and almost everything popularly said about it is wrong, so it is worth being straight about.

It is not a Viking age symbol. The form you see here comes from Icelandic grimoires, books of magical staves, the best known being the Galdrabok, and those manuscripts date to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. That is five hundred years after the Viking age ended. No excavated Norse object carries this design.

What is genuinely old is the word. Aegishjalmr appears in the Poetic Edda and in the Volsunga saga, where the dragon Fafnir wears the helm of awe and says that it made all living things fear him. Sigurd takes it after killing him. So the idea, a helm that projects terror and protects the wearer, is very old indeed. The eight armed drawing is a later Icelandic attempt to give that idea a shape.

We think it is a better story told honestly than told badly, and it does not make the stave any less worth cutting into a lid.

Why a chest has a domed lid and brass bands

The dome is structural before it is decorative. A flat lid on a wide chest sags in the middle over the years, especially if anything is stacked on it, and once it sags it stops sitting down cleanly on the rim. A curved lid is an arch. Load pushes the curve outward into the sides rather than downward into the middle, which is the same reason a barrel and a bridge are shaped the way they are.

The dome also sheds water, which mattered enormously on an open deck and still matters in a garage or a porch.

The straps do two jobs. They hold the lid boards to each other across the grain, which is the direction wood wants to move as humidity changes, and they take the abuse at the edges where a chest actually gets damaged. Wood splits along the grain. A metal strap running across the grain stops the split travelling. Every heavily used historical chest is banded for that reason and not for looks.

The block feet are the quiet detail. They lift the base off the floor, so a damp concrete slab or a wet deck cannot wick moisture into the end grain of the bottom boards. A chest sitting flat on a floor rots from underneath first.

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.

This chest already carries the Helm of Awe on the lid, so anything you order in that position replaces it. A common alternative is a family name or a rune line running across the lid between the straps, or a shorter line cut into the front panel below the hasp where it is visible with the lid shut. See the engraving page.

Living with it and where to put it

This is a working chest and it is built to be used rather than looked at. It takes blankets, board games, tools, gear, drinking horns, a rolled up shield, or the sort of things that have no proper home in a modern house.

At the foot of a bed it works as a blanket box and a bench. In a hallway it works as a place to sit and put boots on. In a workshop it is a tool chest that does not look like one. What we would ask you not to do is stand it in permanent direct sunlight, which will fade the stain unevenly and eventually open the joints, or put it against a radiator, which will dry the boards and shrink them away from the straps.

The lid is domed, so it is not a stable surface for stacking. Do not put a television or a lamp on it.

The padlock is a real lock, not a token. It will stop a curious child and a casual hand. It is not a security safe and we would not describe it as one.

Care

Dust with a dry cloth. Once or twice a year, a wipe of furniture wax or hardwood oil over the stained surfaces keeps the finish fed and the colour even. Avoid silicone sprays, which build a film that later resists wax.

The brass will tarnish slowly to a deeper gold. Most owners let it, because a bright new chest and a settled one look very different and the settled one usually wins. If you prefer it bright, any metal polish on a soft cloth brings it back, and it takes about ten minutes to do the whole chest. Keep polish off the wood, because it will mark the stain.

If the hinges ever stiffen, a drop of light oil at each pin fixes it. Check the strap studs once a year and tell us if any have lifted.

Made in the Czech Republic

This piece is made by hand in the Czech Republic, in a workshop that still works the old way. The steel is forged, ground, heat treated and finished by smiths who learned the trade from the people before them, and the wood, horn and leather are cut and fitted by hand rather than pressed out on a line. That is also why no two pieces come out exactly the same.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import these pieces ourselves, check every one when it lands and ship from our warehouse in Memphis, Tennessee. Engraving is done here in the United States after the piece arrives, so your runes or your own design go on before it leaves for you.

A note on handmade variation

This chest is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. Wood is a natural material and stain lands differently on every board, so the depth of colour, the run of the grain and the way the figure shows through will not match the picture exactly. Knots, where they appear, are left rather than filled. The Helm of Awe is cut by hand, so its line weight is a person’s work.

The dimensions, the material, the fittings and the build are the same every time. The character is not. We wrote up gifts for reenactors separately, and there is a piece on the Norse symbols and what they meant as well.

Frequently asked questions

Does it arrive assembled?

Yes. It ships as a finished chest with the lid hinged, the brass fitted and the padlock included. There is no flat pack assembly.

Is the padlock included?

Yes, a brass padlock with its key ships with the chest and fits the hasp and staple.

Can I sit on it?

Yes. The lid is domed and braced, which is a stronger arrangement than a flat lid. It is not a comfortable seat for a long evening but it will take an adult without complaint.

Is it secure enough for valuables?

It is a wooden chest with a padlock. It will deter a child or a casual hand. It is not a safe and we would not want anyone treating it as one.

Can I have my family name on the lid instead of the stave?

Yes. Anything you order in that position replaces the Helm of Awe rather than sitting next to it. Runes or Latin letters both work.

Will the brass stay bright?

No, it will darken gently to a deeper gold. That is normal for brass and most owners prefer it. A metal polish restores the bright finish whenever you want it back.

What is in the box

• Wardhold Viking storage chest, assembled and finished
• Brass padlock and key
• Wood and brass care card
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

See the rest of the Viking home decor, the rune stones and rune sets, the engraved and personalised pieces, and the guides.