On her wedding day a Norwegian bride wore more jewellery than at any other time in her life. If she did not have enough of her own, she borrowed from friends or relations, or even hired it. Some of this jewellery was also worn later, on Sundays and feast days, but some pieces, like the bridal pendant, were only worn at the marriage.

The circular bridal pendant, or brudedaler, was worn throughout Norway. It had many names. The word brudedaler means a bridal dollar, because many were made from old silver coins. It was sometimes called an Agnus Dei or angstei, as similar circular cases had been used as reliquaries in the Middle Ages to contain a consecrated wax disc with the image of the Lamb of God stamped on it. The brudedaler was worn hanging from a long chain, and usually had three pendants attached to its lower edge, which could themselves each have three more pendants, as here.

Filigree pendants like this one mainly come from the west of Norway. They sometimes open like lockets, when they were used to hold a coin for the pastor who officiated at the wedding service.