# Mahrattan Indian Fakir's Crutch Mace

Status: Sold · Region: India · Type: Armor

An uncommon form of crow's bill axe, consisting of a brass hand holding a solid iron spike, shaped to look like a horn curving back on itself and terminating in a brass tiger's head. The hand is fastened to an iron shaft that terminates in a finial in the form of a flattened out pommel. The brass hand unscrews with a left-hand thread to reveal a long quadrangular spike. The spike on this example fastened with a square stud into the brass handle and now slightly loose.

  


Other examples of this form can be found in the Royal Armories Collection, Leeds, U.K. ([Obj. Nr. XXVIM.5](https://collections.royalarmouries.org/object/rac-object-1647.html)) where it is dated to the 18th century and attributed to Kolapore, India, where it was taken, having formerly been in the Old Town of London collection. Kolapore is a former princely city in Maharastra and during the Maratha Empire was ruled by the Bhosle family.