My paper discusses the possible meanings and functions ascribed to metal objects in the European Early Bronze Age. Metal objects were surely valuable possessions, but can we get more detailed insight into time-space shifts in functional attachments? A case in point is the function of copper rings, Ösenringe, hotly debated over the years. The archaeological literature often operates with either/or models, notably advocating the functions of ingot, currency, or token of rank. I am inclined to question simple solutions. Differences in context within and between major geographical regions in temperate Europe suggest the picture to be varied and complex with several overlapping functions, and movements between functions, during the lifetime of an object. The point of departure is fourfold: first, Igor Kopytoff’s classic notion of the cultural biographies of things. Second, the entanglement of people, society and things. Third, the classic anthropological distinction between gifts/inalienable objects and commodities/alienable objects, and fourth, material objects as mediators of social identity combined with their ability to carry memory of the past.