I Fought The Law

Had to go up to the loft this afternoon to check on some paperwork and spotted this truncheon looking a bit sad and sorry for itself. It used to hang on the wall but, like a lot of stuff in this house, has been languishing in a box in the attic for a couple of years, whilst the work was being done.
I’ve no idea how old it is or even if it’s an official police type. There are no markings on it, and we found it in a shed when clearing the in-law’s house. As my father-in-law dealt in antiques it could be just something he picked up over the years. Alternatively it might have been something used by his father, either during his time in the trenches in WW1 or when he was an ARP Warden in WW2. The final possibility is that it belonged to an uncle who worked on Liverpool docks - maybe in some sort of security role.
Whatever, I wouldn’t have fancied being on the receiving end of it back in the day. Though I have a feeling that if it was used in anger today, it would not be quite as effective as there is a deep split on one side, probably caused by the extremes of humidity whilst it was languishing in the shed for all those years.
Anyway, an application of wax polish and some vigorous duster action has restored a shine, and I’m sure we can find somewhere to display it again. Either that or hope there’s an old fashioned policeman character in the next play I do, and there isn’t a truncheon in the props store…