Ox Horn vs Pewter vs Resin: Which Drinking Horn or Tankard to Buy
Choose real ox horn if you want the vessel the Vikings actually drank from and will wash it by hand and keep it for cold drinks. Choose stainless steel for hot coffee and rough daily use. Buy a resin or wood tankard only with a stainless steel insert, and buy pewter only if it is marked lead-free.
Search for a Viking drinking horn and you will find horn, steel, wood, resin and pewter, often in near-identical photos and at very different prices. They are not interchangeable. The material decides what you can pour into the vessel, how you clean it, how long it lasts and how close it is to anything a tenth-century Scandinavian would recognise. This guide covers all five, including pewter, which we do not sell.
Real ox horn
Horn is keratin, the sheath that grows over the bony core of a cow's horn, hollowed, shaped and polished. It is the material of the historical drinking horn: horns appear on Gotland picture stones such as Tjängvide, where a woman offers a horn to a rider, they are raised at feasts in the sagas, and the metal rims and tips that once capped them turn up in graves. You can read more about how they were used in what the Vikings drank out of.
- Good for: beer, ale, mead, cider, wine and spirits. Feasts, gifts, reenactment.
- Strengths: light, warm in the hand, does not shatter when dropped, and every horn is different in shape, colour and grain.
- Limits: hand washing only, in cool or lukewarm water, and no dishwasher. Cold drinks only; heat can soften the lining and warp the horn.
- Check before buying: that the listing says real horn, not "horn style", and that it names the lining inside.
Our horn cups and horn mugs are genuine ox horn with hand-engraved designs, most of them with a food-grade lacquer inside, and the full drinking horn comes hand-engraved, with its own stand. You will find them all among our Viking drinking horns, with the handled mugs and beer sets also gathered on their own page of ox horn mugs. Our horn pieces ship within the US only. For the washing routine, see our guide on how to clean a drinking horn.
Stainless steel
Stainless steel is a twentieth-century metal, so it has nothing to do with the Viking Age. What it offers is practicality: a stainless steel mug shaped like a skull, a wolf head or a dragon claw holds coffee as happily as beer, survives being dropped, and is easy to keep clean.
- Good for: daily use, hot and cold drinks, and knocks that would crack horn.
- Strengths: durable, hygienic, no lining to protect.
- Limits: heavy for its size, especially the sculpted designs, and a single-walled mug gets hot to hold. Most of our steel mugs are best washed by hand; only the insulated tumblers are sold as dishwasher safe.
The steel pieces are in our wider range of Viking mugs.
Wood
Turned wooden cups and bowls were the everyday tableware of the Viking Age and probably the most common thing anyone drank from; the street name Coppergate in York probably means "street of the cup-turners". Most of them rotted away, while the metal fittings of horns survived. A modern wooden tankard looks and feels right, but bare wood soaks up drinks and is hard to keep clean, so a good one has a stainless steel liner that the drink actually touches. Wash it by hand and never leave it soaking.
Resin
Cast polyresin can carry deep, detailed sculpture of warriors, skulls and knotwork at a modest price, which is why so many fantasy tankards are made of it. It is a decorative material, not a drinking surface, so a resin tankard is only worth buying with a stainless steel insert, ideally a removable one, and that insert is what you drink from. Be wary of resin "drinking horns" sold without any mention of a food-safe lining or insert.
Pewter
Pewter was common tableware in medieval Europe, but the pewter tankard came later still: the earliest surviving ones date from the mid-1600s, some six centuries after the Viking Age. Pewter is mostly tin. Pewter made to modern tableware standards is effectively lead-free, while old or unmarked pewter can contain a lot of lead and should be kept for display. It is soft, dents easily and should be washed by hand.
A "pewter horn mug" is usually a mug cast in the shape of a horn, a style of tavern ware popular from the 1960s to the 1980s, and most on sale today are vintage. Some sold as pewter are really Armetale, an aluminium-based alloy. Look for a maker's mark before you drink from one. We do not currently sell pewter drinkware.
Side by side
| Material | Hot drinks | Dishwasher | Breaks if dropped | Closest to the Viking Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ox horn | No, cold only | No | No, but heat can warp or crack it | Yes |
| Stainless steel | Yes | Check the product | No | No |
| Wood with steel liner | In the liner | No, hand wash | No | Wooden cups, yes; tankard shape, no |
| Resin with steel insert | In the insert; check the product | Removable insert only | Can chip | No |
| Lead-free pewter | Not ideal | No | Dents | No, 1600s and later |
Which one should you buy?
For a gift that feels Norse, a real horn cup or a horn beer mug set. For a feast or reenactment, a full drinking horn with its stand. For the office or the camper van, stainless steel. For a sculpted piece that sits on the shelf and still gets used, resin or wood with a steel insert.
Drinking Horn Materials, FAQ
Are real horn drinking horns better than resin ones?
For drinking, yes. Real horn with a food-grade lining is a proper drinking vessel. Resin is a decorative material and should only be drunk from through a steel insert or a certified food-safe coating.
Can I put hot drinks in a horn mug?
No. Horn mugs are for cold drinks only. Heat can soften the lining and distort the horn. If you want hot coffee from a Viking-style mug, choose stainless steel.
Did the Vikings use pewter tankards?
No. Pewter tankards come centuries after the Viking Age; the earliest surviving examples date from the mid-1600s. Viking Age drinkers used horns, wooden cups and, among the wealthy, imported glass.
Is pewter safe to drink from?
Pewter made to modern tableware standards (ASTM B560 in the US, EN 611 in Europe) is effectively lead-free and safe for drinks. Antique, vintage or unmarked pewter can contain a lot of lead and should be kept for display.
What is a pewter horn mug?
A mug cast in pewter in the shape of a horn, mostly vintage tavern ware. It looks the part but has no link to the Viking Age, and old or unmarked pieces may contain lead.
What is the most authentic Viking drinking vessel?
For everyday drinking, a turned wooden cup. For a feast or a toast, a cattle horn: drinking horns are shown on Viking Age picture stones and named in the sagas, and their metal fittings survive in graves.