An unpublished gold finger-ring of Viking-age date from the , and new light on the 1850 Skye hoard James Graham-Campbell*

197n I Cite 9f Glasgoth yo t GallerwAr Museumd yan , Kelvingrove, purchase t auctioda n gola d finger-ring (pi 40b) sai havo dt e been found befor eIsle Skyf 191th eo n 6eo (Christie's Sale, 1979v gratefu2 t 28)m 8No a ,lo I . Miso t l s Helen Adamso invitatioe th r fo n publiso nt h this ring and for the information, obtained through Christies from the vendor, that it had originally belonged to a Countess Latour whose farm on Skye had been managed by his cousin's great-uncle whbeed oha n presente Countese d th retiremen s wity hi b t n hi so 1931n i t . Countese Th s Vincent Baille LatouAustriaf e o d t s rwa n birth daughtee th , Barof o r n nvo Ettingshausen, who was married first in 1881 to Norman Macleod of Macleod, 25th chief of that dieo ilk 1895n di wh ,marriee Sh . d subsequently Count Vincent Baille Latoure d t ; they spent their summers on Skye at Uiginish, near Dunvegan, and after his death, she continued to holiday on Skye until she died in 1943. The Countess developed an interest in archaeology (elected a Societfelloe th f w o 1915n y i directed an ) excavatioe dth brocho tw Skyen f o nso n a , n firsDu t lardhard, near Dunvegan (Macleod 1915), and then (1914-20) Dun Beag, near Struan (Callander 1921). The finds from her excavations, including a plain gold finger-ring found in Dun Beag, wer Museue eth presenteo t thar mo s he t y therreasodo b n s ei supposo nt e that this unpublished * Department of History, University College London SHORTE9 R NOTE56 | S finger-ring derives from either of her sites. It must be likely, however, that the ring was found in north-west Skye where it would have been brought to her attention because of her known antiquarian interests. The finger-ring consists of four gold rods twisted together and tapering towards their ends which are linked by a plain lozenge-shaped plate (pi 40b). Its external diameter varies from 25 to weighs it bess i d t tI s 13-6i tan . parallele m 20gm 7 m gola y db finger-rin f similago r size from Marrister, Whalsey, (Grieg 1940, 141, fig 64), made from three twisted rods, as is a smaller ring (NMAS: FE 21) which forms part of the hoard of gold finger-rings of unknown provenance from the (ibid, 116, fig 58); the rods are linked by a plate in both these instances, as are the two twisted rods that form a gold finger-ring in the Plan Farm hoard, Bute (Pollexfen & Sim 1884, pi vi,2), and the four rods which constitute the gold finger-ring from the t Ronan'S s Chapel, lona, hoard (Curie 1924, 109-10 , althoug4) lattee g ,fi th n rhi instance eth rods were first twisted into two pairs which were then twisted together. Both simpler and more complex ring includee sar above-mentionee th n di d hoard fro Hebridese mth , amonst thee mth elaborately plaited type tha representes i t gola y db finger-ring from Fladda Chuinn Skyf of , e (NMAS Cat, 1892, 211; Grieg 1940 58)g fi hoar,A . f foudo r gold finger-rings from Stenness, Mainland, (Grieg 1940, ; 133-4Graham-Campbel62 g fi , l 1980 238o n , ) consiste on f so twistee plaitedon d d an ,rin g (three rods withou plaio plate)a ttw n d penannulaan , r bands; this last typ thas ei t represente gole th dy dfinger-rinb g already mentione beins da g foun Skyn do n ei Dun Beag, Struan (Callander 1921,123, fig 9,3). These finger-rings are listed in Graham-Campbell 1976 (Appendice , wit othere C) hth & f gol silveso d sB dan r known from Viking-age Scotland; they are all long-lived types and the Skye ring published here is as likely to date from the 12th centur 10the th s ,y a give n tha Plae tth n Farm, Bute hoar deposites dwa d115c 0 (ibid, 123-4)d an thae coinlesth t t Ronan'S s s Chapel, lona hoard f similamuso e b t r date (ibid). Neithee th r Hebrides nor the Stenness hoards contained coins to date their deposition. addition I three th eo n t gol d finger-ring knoww sno n from Skye, ther three ear e Viking-age silver hoards fro islande mth f whico , h tha tbeace founth n ho d belo Store wth r Rock, near Portree, was deposited c 935 (Graham-Campbell 1976, 119). The variety of its 110 coins piece3 2 nature s hack-silveth f it so d f eo an Graham-Campbeld rle concludo t l e (ibid) thae th t Storr Rock hoard 'ha markesa d Hiberno-Norse aspec musd an t t reflec close th t e connections betwee Norse nth e Settlement f Scotlanso Ireland dan t thida s period' othee hoardo Th . tw r s have unknown findspots, the first (Skye, no 1) having been discovered before 1781 and the other 185n i ) 02 (Grieo (n g 1940, 112-13); they both containe complete don e exampl severad ean l fragments of the plain silver penannular rings known as 'ring-money', used by the Norse in Scot- land particularly in the period 950-1050 (Graham-Campbell 1976, 125-6). I am much indebted WordoH r M Edinburgf no o t drawinr hfo attentioy gm passaga o nt e conernin lattee gth r hoard in D Wilson, The Archaeology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland (1851), 521, which states that 'in the present year, 1850, a large hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins was discovered in the Isle of Skye: upward fel0 9 l f int individualse o hande oon th f muca so d han , greater number were dispersed. greatee th Br yfa r numbe stykae rar Eadgar'f so rine fragmentd th g an s .A s 'foun sepulchraa n di l mound Skyn i ' 185n ei 0 were presente Museue th o dt Proy mb f Daniel Wilson himself 186n i , 3 (Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 5 (1862-4), 127, no 7), there seems little doubt that we are dealing with a single hoard gratefum a I . Proo . t Dollel M f discussinr yfo g this reference with me, whics hha bee havo n ewh misse l writte Viking-age al th y db n no e hoard suggestios Scotlandf shi o r fo d n,an that this hoard would most probably have been deposite 970se th n d.i Skythu2 o sen fits well into generae th l deposition patter Viking-age th f no e coin-hoards from Scotland (Graham-Campbell 1976 provided , an fi ) g2 s further confirmatio generae th r nfo l datin 'ring-moneyf go ' (ibid, tabl. e1) 570 I PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, 1982 These three hoards and three single-finds of silver and gold (to which might possibly be adde Hebrideae dth n hoar f goldo d finger-rings) together constitut enotabla e concentratiof no such wealt forhand m significana t amoun smalthe lof t bod archaeologicayof l evidence thais t knowNorse th r enfo presenc Skyen ei , most recently reviewe parn d i Smal y b t l (1976).

REFERENCES Callander, J G 1921 'Report on the excavation of Dun Beag, a near Struan, Skye', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, (1920-1)5 5 , 110-31. Curie, A O 1924 'A note on four silver spoons, etc ... found at lona', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 58 (1923-4), 102-11. Graham-Campbell A 197J , 6 'The Viking-age silve gold an rd hoard f Scandinaviaso n character from Scotland', Proc Antiqc So Scot, (1975-6)7 10 , 114-43. Graham-Campbell A 198 J , 0 Viking artefacts: selecta catalogue, London. Grieg S ,194 0 'Viking antiquitie Scotlandn i s Shetelign i ' (ed)H , , Viking antiquities Greatn i Britain and Ireland, Oslo, Part 2. Macleod T 191 F lardhard,n a 5 n 'NoteDu a broc,n o s h near Dunvegan excavate Countesy db s Vincent Baille Latoure d t , Uiginish Lodge, Skye', Proc Antiqc So Scot, (1914-15)9 4 , 57-70. NMAS Cat 1892 Catalogue of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. Edinburgh. Pollexfen, J H & Sim, G 1864 'Notice of the coins etc ... found at Plan, in the Island of Bute'. Proc Soc Antiq Scot, (1862-4)5 , 372-84. Small, A 1976 'Norse settlement in Skye' in Boyer, R (ed), Les Vikings et leur civilisation: probfemes actuels, Paris, 29-37. (= Bibliotheque Arctique et Antarctique, 5).