A Most Unusual Axe;Prestige, Dance or Souvenir Piece?iece

[ariel]

It is a Recade, ceremonial axe of the Fon people from Benin. King's messengers carried them across the country and proclaimed king's orders. Recade was their mark of authority: their word was king's word.
A very similar arrangement was a golden Paiza, a square medallion given to the messengers of Chinghiz Khan. Everybody was obligated to assist them in any way, shape or form, they had a priority on fresh horses, ahead of everybody else, including military commanders and princes and disobedience to them carried death punishment.
Their closest contemporary analogue is the credentialising paper presented by a new ambassador to the local Foreign Minister. However, fresh horses are not included in the ceremony,

Aluminum implies 20 century, however Dahomey ( former and current Benin) is still a monarchy and who knows whether local kings rely on Recades more than on cell phones.