This piece of jewelry is modeled after a golden bracelet, which was possibly used as a payment ring, where a piece of gold would be snapped off the jewelry to complete a transaction. The piece of jewelry may also have been an offering or a memento. An old story tells that the bracelet belonged to a chieftain who lived during the Viking Age. According to the story, the chieftain was saved from a shipwreck, and as a token of his gratitude, he sacrificed the golden bracelet. Whether the story is true or not, nearly a thousand years later the piece of jewelry was found on the shore of a lake. The bracelet originates from Ladoga Karelia, Metsäpirtti, and it is the only Viking Age (800-1050 AD) gold find from Finland.
