A processional mining tool

A processional mining tool. From Saxony. Carved wooden handle with metal head, spiked at one end. Handle is mostly darker wood, with lighter areas of carving and a lighter base. The base is depicting a man with a walking stick. There are also a number of other people carved higher up the handle.

Axes, such as these, were traditionally borne in procession as emblematic of their calling by the members of the miners' guilds in Saxony, Germany. They are all dated between 1664 and 1749, and the handles are engraved with views of mining operations.