A processional mining tool

A processional mining tool. From Saxony. Carved wooden handle with metal head, spiked at one end. Carved wooden handle with flowers up the handle, the bottom section is a coat of arms tand the top section is larger. There are a total of seven sections all slightly different sizes.

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.