Torslunda plates

Torslunda plates
The four Torslunda plates
Material	Bronze
Created	c. 6th–8th century AD[1]
Discovered	1870 Torslunda, Öland
Present location	Statens Historiska Museum

The Torslunda plates are four cast bronze dies found in the Torslunda parish on the Swedish island Öland.^[2] They display figures in relief,^[3] representing what are presumed to be traditional scenes from Germanic mythology.^[4] The plates are moulds designed for production rather than display; by placing thin sheets of foil against the scenes and hammering or otherwise applying pressure from the back, identical images could be quickly mass-produced.^[2] The resulting pressblech foils would be used to decorate rich helmets of the sort found at Vendel, Valsgärde, and Sutton Hoo. Two of the plates may have been made as casts of existing pressblech foils.