RARE VARIATION MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN AMULET

A specific variation of the Wheel of Fortune, which invokes the favor of Fortuna who decided events to come, it was, in this graphic form, associated with torturers who used the breaking wheel for executions. Death by the wheel involved two phases. In the first, the victim is subject to crushing of his limbs and sometimes chest, by the wheel being dropped on him. For increased effect, the wheel sometimes had iron projections attached to the rim. Lastly, the subject was attached to the wheel with his broken limbs threaded through the spokes and either allowed to die or dispatched by bludgeon or garrote. This example is just under 5/8” diameter, made by the open face mold technique with the wheel finely detailed with raised hub and nubbed joints. The edge scallops are triangles (pointed) and too numerous to be considered radials or anything other than lethal projections. Death by the wheel continued (though much diminished) into the 19th century. This amulet would date from about the 15th-17th century and was likely worn by an executioner.