Silver, 2.72 grams, 45.96 mm. 10th-12th century AD. An unusual form of female headdress in the form of a penannular fitting worn at the temples by leading women among the Rus (Baltic and Volga Vikings). The piece is formed as a flat band (0.6 to 0.9 mm thick) with three lobed expansions: two large ones placed equidistantly around the circumference and a smaller one acting as the terminal. The smaller lobe bears three punched pellets, while the larger ones bear four. The inner and outer edges are decorated with lines of square punched decorations, expanding to double-lines on the lobes; a single line of square punchmarks is visible on the reverse. The pointed end is thicker than the band at 1.4 mm. The present example with rhomboid lobes is characteristic of the Novgorodskii Slovenes of the Volga region. Reference: Franklin, S. and Shepard, J. The Emergence of Rus: 750-1200 (Longman History of Russia, vol. 1). London, 1996 and see also Stahlsberg, A. Varangian Women in Old Rus’: Who were they? in Kvinne i Arkeologi i Norge, 21, 1996,.p.83-101 and Thrane, H Steppens Nomader - Skovens Bønder: Ukraines arkhæologi i 2000 år (900 f. Kr - 1240)., Odense, 1994. Very fine condition. Provenance: from an old European collection. This antiquity is accompanied by an XRF metal test certificate from Oxford X-ray Fluorescence Ltd.