This Hedeby Thor's Hammer is about 1 1/2"high - of solid sterling silver. It is a copy of a piece recovered in a find at the Viking site of Hedeby on the river Schlei in Denmark. Hedeby was the largest Viking city. The original rests in the State Historical Museum in Stockholm. The find dated from about 800 - 1000 AD. It is embossed on both sides with a depiction of Odin at the top of the Thor's Hammer. The Thor's Hammer is a power symbol which actually predates the Vikings being Christianized. Before Christianity the symbol was not widely used. After the 900's vikings began to come into contact with Christians. At this point Thor's Hammer became a religious symbol. The majority of Thor's Hammers have been found in areas where Christianity had the strongest influence. The full story of how Thor got his hammer can be found in second part of the Prose Edda known as Skáldskaparmál. The short version is: Loki was upset with Thor and cut off his wife Sif's hair. In order to save his life Loki promises Thor a gift while he gets Sif a golden wig. Loki gets several gifts, but did not get Thor's gift. He attempts to manipulate several dwarfs to make two other gifts. Loki bet his head. He began to get nervous about losing the bet, and turned into a gadfly, and bit the blacksmith in the eye. This caused the handle to be short. Loki lost the bet. Thor chose Mjölnir, which is known as Thor's Hammer. The other gifts where Freyr's ship Skíðblaðnir and Odin's spear Gungnir.