A very fine looking piece.
The shaft is hand made no doubt, a lathe of this size would be troubsome to say the least, flex and flop would be out of control even with numberous support rollers along the bed of the lathe and I am unsure if the technology was available for this type of construction in the day.
I look forward to hearing more on the origins as I am afraid I can't be too exact....if you do ever grow tired of it, please do let me know, it would look great amonst my other lances
