A seventeenth century Dutch skating hook stick.

A skating stick. Overall length 170 cm. Length of iron 70 cm. This type of stick was a potential "life saver". The lonely skater in 1650 in a country with only 1800 000 inhabitants (now 17 million) had to be entirely self supporting when getting into the water. The hook is meant to pull him out of it. This stick is still in mint condition with minor signs of use. Only very few of these seventeenth century  sticks have survived.