Wayrune Hand Made Silver Finish Vegvisir Pendant with Knotwork Border & 24 Inch Curb Chain | Norse Wayfinder Gift | RK-1784

This is a Vegvisir pendant, a round disc carrying the eight spoked runic compass cut into a recessed centre panel and framed by a raised ring of Celtic knotwork. The edge is a stepped bezel, the bail is fixed rather than hinged, and it hangs on a curb link chain with a lobster clasp. The finish is a bright polished silver tone that picks out every stave arm against the flat ground behind it.

The Vegvisir is worth understanding properly, because it is one of the most worn Norse symbols in the world and almost nobody who wears it knows where it comes from. The name means signpost or wayfinder in Icelandic. The design appears in the Huld manuscript, a collection of magical staves compiled in Iceland in 1860 by Geir Vigfusson, alongside a line saying that if this sign is carried a person will not lose their way in storms or bad weather, even when the way is not known. That is the whole source. It is nineteenth century Icelandic folk magic, not a Viking age artefact, and no excavated Norse object carries it.

Made, cut, finished and polished by hand in the Czech Republic, and shipped on its chain in a cloth pouch. This one is kept with the Norse pendants, and the arm rings and torcs sit right beside it.

Specifications

What the Vegvisir actually meant

Eight arms radiate from a common centre, and each one ends in a different arrangement of hooks, crossbars, circles and forks. They are not runes, which is the first thing people get wrong. Runes are an alphabet with sounds attached. These are staves, single magical signs, and each of the eight is different from the other seven on purpose.

The best reading of what it was for comes from the number eight itself. Eight is the compass, the eight airts, the eight directions a traveller can go. A stave for each direction, all bound to one centre, is a fairly transparent piece of sympathetic magic. Whichever way the weather turns you, you carry the sign of that way with you.

It belongs to a specific and rather practical Icelandic tradition. The grimoires it comes from, the Huld manuscript and the Galdrabok among them, were working books. They contain staves for finding thieves, for winning at wrestling, for keeping foxes out of a flock and for calming a frightened horse. The Vegvisir sits in that company, which makes it a good deal more human than the mystical reputation it has picked up since.

We think that story is better than the invented one. It is a real symbol from a real tradition, made by people who genuinely needed to get home across bad country in worse weather. It just is not a thousand years old.

An honest word about the metal

We describe this piece by its finish rather than by a metal name, because that is the honest thing to do. It is a solid formed pendant with a bright polished silver finish. It is not sold as hallmarked sterling silver and you should not buy it believing it is one.

What you are getting is a substantial disc with real weight, a stepped bezel edge that is machined rather than moulded, a bail that is formed as part of the piece rather than soldered on as an afterthought, and a design that is cut into the metal deeply enough to have shadow in it. Hold it against a printed or stamped pendant and the difference is obvious from the depth of the recess alone.

Like any bright finish it will dull with skin contact and time. That takes about a minute to reverse and the care section below explains how.

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 this pendant the front already carries the Vegvisir, so we normally put personal engraving on the back, which is flat, and which will take a name, a date or a short rune line comfortably. If you want the front changed instead, your design replaces the stave rather than sitting around it. See the engraving page.

Fit and sizing

The chain is 24 inches, which is a long men’s length. Worn over a shirt it sits at about mid chest, below the sternum, which is where a pendant of this diameter looks right. On a shorter chain a disc this size rides up under the collarbones and reads as too big for the space.

If you want it higher, a 20 inch chain brings it to just below the collarbone and a 22 inch to the top of the sternum. The bail is sized generously, so it will take most chains, a leather cord or a paracord loop without modification. Tell us before you order if you would like a different length and we will substitute it.

To measure, run a piece of string around your neck and let it hang to where you want the pendant to sit, then measure the string. Remember that the pendant hangs below the bottom of the chain loop, so the disc will sit an inch or so lower than the number you measure.

The clasp is a lobster rather than a spring ring, because a lobster clasp is easier to work one handed and far less likely to fail under a snag.

Care

Take it off before swimming, before the shower and before the gym. Chlorine, salt water and sweat dull a bright finish faster than anything else, and the soap film left after a shower is what makes most jewellery look tired.

To restore the shine, rub it with the polishing cloth that ships with it. For anything heavier, warm water with a drop of washing up liquid and a soft toothbrush worked into the recessed stave, then rinse and dry it completely. Do not use silver dip and do not use abrasive cream. Both strip finishes rather than clean them, and the detail on this piece lives in the depth of the cut.

Store it in the pouch, hanging or flat rather than tangled with other chains. Curb links kink if they are stored knotted, and a kinked chain is the commonest way a necklace eventually breaks.

Made in the Czech Republic

The work behind this piece happens in a Czech Republic workshop that has kept to the old methods. Steel is forged and heat treated by hand, the grind is taken down by eye rather than by machine, and the handle, fittings and sheath are cut and finished one at a time. Because of that, every piece carries small marks of the hand that made it.

Ransack Viking is a United States company. We import direct, check each piece when it reaches us, and ship from our Memphis, Tennessee warehouse. Engraving is added here in the United States after arrival, so the piece you receive is finished to your order.

A note on handmade variation

This pendant is hand made rather than machine made or bulk produced, so what arrives will not be a pixel for pixel copy of the photograph. The depth of the cut varies slightly across the stave arms, the knotwork border is finished by hand so its highlights fall differently on each piece, and the polish is worked rather than sprayed, which means the light catches your pendant in its own way.

The diameter, the design, the material and the build are the same every time. The character is not. Read the Vegvisir when you have a minute, and the Elder Futhark if you are still comparing.

Frequently asked questions

Is the chain included?

Yes. A 24 inch curb chain with a lobster clasp ships with the pendant at no extra cost.

Is this solid sterling silver?

No, and we will not say it is. It is a solid formed pendant with a bright polished silver finish. We describe the finish rather than putting a metal name on it we cannot stand behind.

Is the Vegvisir a real Viking symbol?

Not in the Viking age sense. It comes from an Icelandic manuscript compiled in 1860. The tradition it belongs to is real and Icelandic, but it is roughly nine hundred years younger than the Norse settlements.

Will it tarnish?

It will dull with wear, like any bright metal. The polishing cloth included brings it straight back. Taking it off for water slows it considerably.

Can I get a shorter chain?

Yes. Message us before you order and we will fit a 20 or 22 inch chain instead at no extra charge.

Can I have something engraved on the back?

Yes, and the back is flat and made for it. A name, a date or a rune line all fit. Use the rune converter on this page for Elder Futhark.

What is in the box

• Wayrune Vegvisir pendant, polished
• 24 inch curb chain with lobster clasp
• Cloth storage pouch
• Polishing cloth and care card
• Made and finished in the Czech Republic

Explore the range

Browse the rest of the Norse pendants, the Mjolnir pendants, the wedding and groomsmen gifts, and the guides.