🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Wands? Batons? Something else?

[Customx_12]

Bought these at a local auction house and they had no idea what they were. They described them as wands of some sort. I don’t know if they’re wands, conductor batons, or something else.

They are hand carved and solid wood. If anyone can tell me what they could be and, if possible, what kind of wood they might be (perhaps ebony on the black ones but not sure and no clue on the other one), I’d really appreciate it.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Agony and Death on a Gold Rush Steamer: The Disastrous Sinking of the Side-Wheeler Yankee Blade - Grab it through Amazon!

[Red-Coat]

Just a guess but, even before wands in ebony, elder and other woods were popularised by the Harry Potter franchise, I have seen ‘Merlin wands’ sold in ‘New Ager’ shops. The kinds of shops that sell tarot cards, healing crystals, joss sticks and such. Folklore has it that Merlin’s wand was made from lignum vitae which can have the grain and colouration seen in your pictures and is also sometimes stained to darker colour.

Try Googling ‘lignum vitae wand’ and see if you can find something similar.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=l...&sclient=img#vhid=4tlWJ8JgafweYM&vssid=mosaic

Both ebony and lignum vitae will sink in water. Lignum vitae has a waxy feel to it, although other carved woods may have been wax-finished such that this may not help with identification.

 

[invent4hir]

Not a wand expert here, however, is 24-30" too long?

 

[Gene Mean]

Riding crops can be quite elaborate per a Google search.

 

[invent4hir]

Riding crops can be quite elaborate per a Google search.

That or a swagger stick seems reasonable.

 

[searcher]

Second the swagger stick.
Appear to be African swagger sticks made for the tourist trade.

The last one looks a lot like Black Palm wood.(Borassus flabellifer)
This one looks more like a tourist trade decorative spear.

 

[Customx_12]

Black palm wood seems to look correct, thank you!

I’m intrigued by the swagger stick suggestion but aren’t those more like canes? These seem too small for canes and the black palm wood one is sharp on both ends. I know you suggested it was perhaps made for the tourist trade to look like a spear so maybe that one is just a decorative piece.

 

[Red-Coat]

Check if they float or sink in water. A quick dunk and then a wipe-down won't do any harm.

 

[Customx_12]

Black palm wood seems to look correct, thank you!

I’m intrigued by the swagger stick suggestion but aren’t those more like canes? These seem too small for canes and the black palm wood one is sharp on both ends. I know you suggested it was perhaps made for the tourist trade to look like a spear so maybe that one is just a decorative piece.

Researching further, apparently swagger sticks are shorter than canes so that fits.

Looking like these may be African or Indonesian swagger sticks. I’ll continue to research further but thank you everyone for your assistance!

 

[Customx_12]

Check if they float or sink in water. A quick dunk and then a wipe-down won't do any harm.

Just checked and they all sunk like rocks. Does black palm wood sink? The one you think might be Lignum Vitae doesn’t really have a waxy feel to it, so I don’t know.

 

[Red-Coat]

Just checked and they all sunk like rocks. Does black palm wood sink? The one you think might be Lignum Vitae doesn’t really have a waxy feel to it, so I don’t know.

Not usually, but the density of Black Palm will vary from 25 lbs/ft3 (400 kg/m3) to over 62 lbs/ft3 (1000 kg/m3). Water has a density of 62.4 lbs/ft3, so only some types of Black Palm wood will sink. Ebony remains a possibility.

 

[Blackfoot58]

They seem kind of fragile for swagger sticks.

 

[Gene Mean]

My wife said maybe a type of weaving tool.

 

[Customx_12]

They seem kind of fragile for swagger sticks.

They’re pretty solid and dense. The palm wood one is a bit less so, but pretty solid.