Description

This elegant object is part of an ancient weapon.  With a good wooden handle it forms the kind of club known as a mace.  Such weapons are for close-up, hand-to-hand warfare, or for dispatching an injured enemy on the field. 

A mace is basically a stick or cudgel with a heavy weight at one end. The simplicity of manufacture and of use have led to their being used from earliest times to the present.  In this case, the narrower part would have been towards the handle, and the flaring rim uppermost.  The rim is remarkably thin and sharp, and would have dealt a deadly blow to an opponent's temple, or shattered a forearm quite easily.

Maces have been carried in many cultures as signs of authority and prowess.