Antique Cast Iron Fisted Hand with Cross at Wrist carved wood chain 4 3/4" l x 4

4 3/4" l x 4 3/8" t x 3 1/4" w

very finely done

5" x 6 7/8" and in excellent antique condition

I have a hard time passing by a pretty lacquer box

but just found this one

Antique Cast Iron Fisted Hand with Cross at Wrist carved wood chain 4 3/4" l x 4A 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