It's up to interpretation what this item could be, although experts suspect its a bobbin, used to wind up thread or yarn during needlework, weaving and knitting. If so, this bobbin could have been used to create lavish embroidery for luxury textiles and tapestries, much like our modern-day Tapestry Volunteers. It's certainly striking and unusual: one end is carved into a mans head, and the other into the head of a beast. The perfect gift for the crafter or stitcher in your life, or perhaps for a historian keen to solve a mystery!