Gavels are a recurring theme this week--used for calling a start or stop to official proceedings, symbolic of law and order, and also just useful things for sounding the alarm---so I'd say we all need one right now! This sweet, scratch made folk art gavel was carved with Odd Fellows iconography, and specifically that of Daughters of Rebekah, the women's branch of the Odd Fellows: a bee skep on one side (representing cooperative hard work), a dove and moon and stars on the next (the order of the universe and value of regularity and precision) and an exuberant stalk of lilies on the last, representing purity of character in thought, word, and action. It makes me very glad that this was made specifically for (and perhaps by?) a woman to wield, and it certainly has a whole lot of life in it yet!
7 7/8” x 2 15/16 x 1 3/8”; surface 6 1/4” d. Very good condition, with a very small surface loss to the corner of the lower wing of the bird, minor. Rich patina to the dry pine. Found with the round block, which has definitely been struck and has a felted underside. C. 1940s or so I would guess.
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