ID for a handle/pommel.

[Melius]

Hi, everyone. I have been trying to identify my metal detecting find. I thought I might try posting it here, hoping someone might be able to help.

This is a bronze object I found from a field in Southern Finland. So far nobody has managed to identify it or give an estimate of its age. But it seems like it might be a handle from a some kind of knife or dagger etc. I have learned that lion pommel was quite common in Europe from 17th to 19th century, but the style of this head does not really match with anything I have found so far. (At least I think it is a lion…)

Can anyone recognize where this kind of handle and pommel might have been in? Does it bear any resemblance to anything you have seen?

(I am sorry that I have not been able to clean the pommel, the Finnish Antiquities Act does not allow me to do that.)

Thank you!