A processional mining tool

A processional mining tool. From Saxony. Carved wooden handle with metal head, spiked at one end. Carved handle, the bottom section is a carved image of a man. Then there are for additional carved sections, the bottom two are people and the rest are other images.

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.