Antique Cast Iron Fisted Hand with Cross at Wrist carved wood chain very finely done

very finely done

The lid fits tight

I am not the least bit religious

The "trigger mugs

Antique Cast Iron Fisted Hand with Cross at Wrist carved wood chain very finely doneA curious thing, this old cast iron fisted hand weighs nearly 4 pounds, and based on another similar I have found out there sold by another dealer, I believe it might originally have been a gate weight perhaps for a church gate, with the cross at the base but I'm not 100% certain. There is a recess on the reverse side of the hand perhaps to which somehow a chain once attached. The other similar I found was dated to Civil War era, and I might guess