A gold cross pendant from the 11th or 12th century, estimated at £6000-8000 at Dix Noonan Webb.
The gold cross pendant, which measures a fraction over 3cm long, dates from the 11th or 12th century. As Frances Noble, head of the jewellery department at DNW, notes: “It is of a form associated with Greek orthodoxy in the eastern Baltic region and very similar to others discovered in Denmark.”
In the medieval period, Denmark formed part of the Hanseatic League, the commercial and defensive alliance of merchant guilds and market towns in central and northern Europe. King’s Lynn, on the north Norfolk coast, just 20 miles from Sutton St Edmund, was a significant trading partner.
The area where the cross was found was the site of the Throckenholt hermitage and chapel that was granted to Thorney Abbey, by Nigel, Bishop of Ely (1133-69) in the 12th century.
This rare find will be offered for sale at the Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu auction in Mayfair estimated at £6000-8000.
