Mystery antique object, What am I?

There is something about the origin of strange objects which fascinated me and which led me to becoming and antiques and vintage jewellery dealer.  Working out what they are, what they are made of and how old can be quite a treasures hunt.  Here is a mystery object which so far defeats me, can you help identify it? This is made of metal which I believe is brass and measures a little over 8 cms high. What I have here is a reproduction but I am interested in finding out what the original item was. 

Antique Mystery object

One side appears to be date 1012, if this is an English object then King Ethelred 11  ( The unready) would have been on the throne at that time. I’ve checked and his pictures do not show him looking like the helmeted chap on one side of this  piece.  A Viking perhpas? But would they be show with a Christian type cross on their helmet? There are words around the outside which I cane really make out, if I could then typing them into Google could well give me some clues about the piece. And what about the two strange fishy / dolphin things sitting on top? 

Please do get in touch if you can provide any further information. Do you have an antique mystery object you would like help identifying? Get in touch with me and I will post it here on AntiquesAvenue blog and see if we can find the answer. 

Reverse of mystery object