Celtic Torc Wolf Bracelet Add to wishlist

Measuring Instructions

Measure snugly around your wrist, then round up to the nearest half inch. The crafter will allow for wiggle room and make your bracelet to fit perfect.

Torc

You might also spell torc torq or torque. American crafters make our torcs from a coiled piece of wire, made of either bronze or silver, that is twisted. They cut the twisted, coiled wire to fit your measurement, and shape it into a “c” shape.  They solder on the end pieces of your choice.

People sometimes refer to bracelets and arm rings as wrist and arm torcs, but “torc” generally refers to a neck ring. Most scholars associate torcs with the Celtic culture, but Greeks, Scythians, Thracians, and other European peoples made and wore them, too. The torc symbolized power and status, a visual indication of its wearer’s rank in society. Both men and women wore torcs, and Celtic and Classical sculptors depicted both men and women wearing them in their sculptures. From what we understand, archaeologists more often find torcs in Celtic women’s graves than in men’s graves.

Torcs first appear in Europe during the Bronze Age, starting around 1200 BC. These torcs typically consist of simple round rods of gold or bronze, often very plain, but sometimes swelling at the ends to form unadorned terminals. Occasionally, crafters made torcs out of square or “X” shaped bars, or even flat ribbons they twisted into simple patterns. The torc didn’t blossom into an art form in and of itself until the Iron Age.

Starting in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, we begin to see the simple forms from the bronze age evolve into much more complex designs. Crafters made them from twists of numerous strands of wire, crafted from hollow tubes of gold, cast in solid silver, and hammered and twisted from bars of iron. They adorned torcs with geometric, organic and zoomorphic patterns. Makers incorporated animal heads and other elaborate designs into the terminals. Indeed, torcs are some of the finest works of Celtic art!

Torcs went out of fashion in Europe during the Migration Era. The last written reference to torcs being worn by the Celtic warriors was the British monk Gildas in the 6th century AD. However, during the Viking Era, neck and arm rings very similar in design to earlier torcs were made and worn by the North Men, and were in use well into the Middle Ages.