I found this in the back of my house. My house is from the 1860s and I have found so much in the back. This thing is about a foot and a quarter long and it has curled pieces of iron at the end. Any info would be great.
Almost looks like a torch. Like the coils are there to hold the fuel (hay, twigs, whatever) and the little lip at the bottom is where you tuck it into a holder on the outside wall or something but that's a TOTAL guess. TOTAL guess.
Old fireplace (and new ones too) pokers/shovels/tools have that same style of handle. About the right dimensions too... Looks like maybe the ash shovel-