A hand-painted Viking shield featuring the Vegvísir, the Icelandic 'wayfinder' stave — worth being upfront that despite its enormous popularity in Viking-themed material today, this symbol has no genuine connection to the Viking Age itself.
The Vegvísir ('that which shows the way') is first recorded in the Huld Manuscript, compiled by Geir Vigfússon in Akureyri, Iceland, in 1860 — a 19th century collection of Icelandic folk magic, not a Viking Age source. The manuscript describes carrying the symbol to ensure safe passage through storms and unfamiliar terrain. Despite its frequent modern marketing as an 'ancient Viking symbol,' scholars are clear that no evidence connects the Vegvísir to the Viking Age (roughly 800-1066 AD) at all — it belongs to a much later tradition of Icelandic galdrastafir (magical staves), even though it has become one of the most recognisable and beloved symbols in modern Norse-inspired art and jewellery.
Deepeeka's reproduction is built from stout plywood, its rim bound in tightly stitched rawhide and its face hand-painted, with an antiqued steel boss at the centre offering ample room for the hand and three riveted wooden reinforcing bars on the reverse, the central one leather-wrapped as the grip.
Use for:
- Viking living history and shield-wall display
- Museum-style display on a wall mount or stand
- Norse mythology-themed home decor and collections
- Historical events and Viking markets
- Costume dressing and themed photography
- Collectors of Norse symbolism and mythology
