6th-7th century AD. A silver-gilt bird with small carinated head, broad disc body and trapezoidal tail; the centre of the back formed as a male face with large eyes and broad moustache enfolded in the bird's overlapping wings; catch and remains of ferrous pin to the reverse; the face probably that of the god Oðinn (Odin"). See Jaenbert, K. The mania of the time. Falconry and bird brooches at Uppåkra and beyond, in On the Road. Studies in Honour of Lars Larsson, Lund, 2007 for a full discussion of the iconography of bird-brooches in relation to the cult-site at Uppåkra. 9.73 grams, 48mm (2"). From the collection of a Tyne & Wear, UK, gentleman; formerly acquired on the Austrian art market in 1992. Examples of this type of bird-brooch have been found at the important religious site of Uppåkra (southern Sweden) where they evidently formed part of the religious iconography of the community. The symbolism of the bird bearing a human face can be deduced from the myth of the gaining of the Mead of Wisdom (recorded first in writing some centuries later reported by Snorri Sturluson in Skáldskaparmál) in which the god transforms himself into a bird of prey. Having managed to drink the magical mead by subterfuge, Oðinn manages to escape in bird form from the hall under the mountain where the giant Suttung had hidden it. This myth is encoded in many artefacts of the Vendel Period and later. Condition Report Fine condition.