7th century AD. A bronze Greek cross with bulges on the arms, mounted on a shaft with globular head, decorated by four rows of cordon-shaped ornaments, soldered to the body of the cross through a copper-alloy pin; the shaft composed of two halves, one soldered to the cross, the other forming the tubular body with socket terminal for the insertion in a staff. See Wamser, L., Die Welt von Byzanz - Europas Östliches Erbe, München, 2004, items 168-185, for type. 85 grams, 19.3cm (7 1/2"). From a private collection formed in the Netherlands; previously in a European collection formed prior to 1980. Staves with cross were carried by early Christian bishops or Monastery abbots as symbol of their ecclesiastical office, possibly derived from ordinary walking sticks. They were made of metal and/or carved wood and often very ornate, with beautiful crosses at the top. In the western church this pastoral staff, mentioned in the Council of Toledo in 633 AD as sign of the bishop’s ruling power, was called crozier, because it was originally a staff with a cross and sphere. Bishops of the Eastern churches developed from it the bakt?ria (dikanikion), a pastoral staff with either a tau cross or two serpents facing each other on top.