The Callantsoog arm ring

On the coast of present-day Noord-Holland, a discovery of a so-called “key ring” was made in 1989. However, this key ring turned out to be a silver arm ring! The Callantsoog arm ring has a distinctive appearance, consisting of one large ring of 7.6 cm diameter with five smaller rings attached of about 2.5 cm diameter. The arm ring dates from the tenth century.

The Callantsoog arm ring is, however, not just an ornament, but also a way to transport silver. When the spiral knot on the large ring is twisted open, the small rings can be taken off or new ones attached. A production site of such arm rings is suspected in southern Sweden and Sjælland in Denmark. Here, arm rings have been found with folded coins around them and rings in which the number of small rings can reach more than 15. In Scandinavia and Frisia in the ninth and tenth centuries, people paid in “weight money”: they could pay with coins, ingots and jewellery made of silver that could be cut to the right weight as payment (hack silver). In this light, the silver arm ring from Callantsoog can thus be seen as an early medieval wallet with small change!

The arm ring from Callantsoog is interpreted as a Viking find due to its similarity to other arm rings from Scandinavia. In North Holland are, however, more finds indicating Scandinavian presence, including the two hoards from Westerklief on Wieringen, the Hiberno-Scandinavian bracelet on Texel, several loose coin finds of dirhams and coin finds of Northumbrian stycas at Doornduijn. Many of these finds, like the arm ring from Callantsoog, probably also served as hack silver. Moreover, the finds are seen as silent witnesses to inter-regional relations between Vikings around the North Sea, of which West Frisia - to which North Holland belonged - was a part.

A replica from the Callantsoog arm ring will enrich our depiction of early medieval Frisia from this day forward!