Mysterious iron keys

[Lil' Brudder]

SOLVED! Ethiopian Coptic Christian Hand Crosses

So I overheard a homeless man downtown on the square talking to his homeless friend about selling some "crypt keys" he found discarded from a storage warehouse. I piped up and acquired them. I'm delighted.

As far as I can tell they are indeed keys for something, from the Crusades era, one is a Cross Cercelée, the large one contains a Formée Pattée in the center of both sides of the top with a dot in each quadrant. There are ring and point details at the tips of the plain cross but it is the most decayed and they're discernible only in a few spots. The large one also has a very small hole through the bottom running parallel with the plane of the flattened top.

They are sticky still from being packed in a heavy brown grease, like the Cosmoline old rifles are packed in.

If any one can help me figure out just what they are and where they came from and who may have made or owned them first I'm dying to know!

 

[yaxthri]

Giving up was not an option... I found them!
These are ethiopian coptic hand crosses.

Here: http://www.crosscrucifix.com/glossaryhome.htm
scroll down to "hand cross".

The square "spatula" thing and small cubes at the base symbolize the Ark of the Covenant... the one the "Raiders" were looking for in Israel... The Copts claim it was brought to Ethiopia! Now that's a treasure to look for :-)
Back to the crosses...





Early Antique African Christian Coptic Iron Cross Crucifix Ethiopia 15 17th C | eBay

Ethiopian Coptic Hand Cross African - Coptic Crosses - Metal and Weapons

http://www.nmafa.si.edu/exhibits/icons/97-19-6.html

Google them to see prices, the examples I found have some value. Yours are more plain in design and material ok, but if they are really old?... Get another opinion I say. Check this out

http://www.africainfinite.com/catal...79&i=&l=&sid=2cdfd75f82d040c964044101ccb86029

 

[Lil' Brudder]

Yax, bingo!! Fantastic, thank you and well done!

 

[greengold]

A mystery! makes me think of National Treasure, maybe they unlock a door to a vast bounty of gold and artifacts? better call Benjamin Gates!

 

[Lil' Brudder]

Greengold, I wish! That was the dream of course, but alas they are only the keys perhaps symbolically to the Arc of the Covenant.

No Mr. Gates needed thanks to the diligence and tact of Yax who posted above.

To sum it up - Hammer : Carpenter as Coptic Cross : Ethiopian Christian Priest

Considering their apparent age, rusted to hell or not, they may just be the keys to open the wallet of a collector or museum...