Hooked tags for winingas, Round, Saxon, copper alloy

Manuscript show winingas wrapped spirally around the lower leg. Hooked tags of various types are often found just below the knees of skeletons; a pair of hooks were found below the kneecaps of a male skeleton in Birka grave Bj903, and similar bird or mask-like hooks were found at 'Ryurik Gorodische', near Novgorod, 9-10th cent. Small silver hooked tags were found in a similar position in a 9th cent. burial at Winchester, Englan. The location of the hooks as found in the graves make it reasonable to assume that their function was to hold up the winingas.

Our winingas hooks are based on an extant mid/late Saxon hooked tag found in Norfolk, England (Portable Antiquities Scheme, Norfolk County Council, 2005).

Cast brass, sold in pairs.

Thanks to Peter Beatson, whose informative article on wickelbander provided a basis for this description