I feel like I've seen other hand brooms similar to this one, but I have not been able to find one now that I'm looking! My guess is that it is Japanese, and most definitely it was made quite some time ago with a great deal of care--the wire stitching alone on this piece is quite a spectacular thing: carefully braided along one edge of the bristles, criss-crossing the leather strip at the other, and then looping and spiraling all over the face of the brush in a seemingly improvisatory manner. The end of the handle is wrapped in leather, and I believe it is strips of some sort of plastic that run along its spine, secured with wire loops along the handle, and then woven through the wire as it runs along the brush itself. I believe the bristles are straw of some type, dark and very fine.
This piece shows some age, with some wear to the leather and plastic strips and I'd guess some loss of bristles, but is is good shape, stable, and would still certainly do the job of sweeping off the table or countertop--though I'd be much more inclined to hang it on the wall, and happily there is already a string loop at the end of the handle for doing just that!
11" from end of the handle to far tip of the bristles x 5" widest x 1" deep; 4 1/2" across where handle meets brush.
