I'm quite obsessed with this exquisitely crafted but also pretty brutal object, a sailor's weapon, preferred over the knife, and which from what I have read was carried by "Press Gangs," who would use them to gather a crew by rendering unsuspecting victims on shore unconscious, only to awake once out at sea. Housed inside the gorgeous macrame/knot work at the large end is a lead weight, which would do the damage. The long stretch of the middle is stiff and strong but pliable, and there may once have been a wrist loop that attached to the very end of the handle; it looks possible that this was neatly, closely clipped off long ago.

All of my research suggests that this very fine example--referred to as a blackjack, or cosh, or sometimes "persuader", dates to about 1800, but I am not certain if British or American. I found it in Upstate New York. These are pretty rare, but I've found documentation of a good number of them out there in collections, and to my eye at least this is about the most beautiful of them all. 

8 1/8" l x 1 1/4" widest diameter and in excellent condition, with no losses and a gorgeous patina.