A GOLD-DAMASCENED STEEL FLANGED MACE
Possibly Ottoman Turkey or Eastern Provinces, 19th century

The head mounted with six sturdy steel blades designed in the shape of flanges or wings, attached to a tubular shaft as handle, its central section covered with worn crimson red silk velvet kept in place by a strip of five gold-decorated steel studs, the head, joint and grip at the bottom all decorated with gold-damascened stylised scrolling vegetal trellis, this style of mace particularly popular in Eastern Europe and throughout the Ottoman Empire as far as Western Persia and even Central Asia, Bukhara, 61.5cm long.