The first one, C053a, is shown on the left in each of the above photos and is the shorter of the two. It takes the form of a simple cudgel-type stick made from some sort of very hard and stiff wood - possibly mesquite or some other type of thorn. It is carved all over with simple patterns and bas-relief images. At first glance, it looked African - but the two human figures represented in the carvings looked too European. They appeared to be wearing some sort of traditional costume.

Towards the top of the stick I could make out the image of an eagle with a snake in its bill, but there was some other stuff there that just didn't make sense to me at first. My initial research told me the eagle/snake image is surprisingly universal, with examples of symbology in the Far East, India, Africa, Eastern Europe, and North and South America. But when I saw the example on the Mexican flag, it all fell into place.

This told me the green splodges on which my eagle was resting in fact represented a cactus branch. Below this, the round thingy looking like a tortoise/turtle shell is actually a rock. Yes, my stick definitely bore the official emblem of Mexico - in fact, I could see that it most closely resembled the version appearing on the Mexican flag between 1889 and 1917. Re-examining the carved figures, I could now see that they were indeed wearing traditional costume - that of the toreador; and wielding bull-fighting capes in the red and green colours from the Mexican flag, to boot.

Above the eagle image is a representation, in the same red (actually it's more orange than red, but I put that down to artistic licence and the need to use whatever was available at the time) and green colours, of the Phrygian Cap (or Liberty Cap). This symbol of struggle for freedom or independence originated in ancient Greece, where such a cap was worn by freed slaves. It now figures in the national symbols of Mexico, Cuba and other countries, along with several States of the USA.

Let's pass on now to the second stick, C053b. This seems to be made of a similar hard thorn-wood. The lower part of this stick bears a quite deeply carved representation of a snake winding its way in and out of the decorated surface of the stick. I would normally expect to see this on a Japanese bamboo stick, but here again we have the Mexican eagle/snake/cactus/rock combination near the top. And above this, the Phrygian Cap makes another appearance. In this case, it is surrounded by radiating lines which represent a halo or aura.

The symbol has either been partly worn away in use; or, as I strongly suspect, it has deliberately been scraped away. Perhaps its political significance offended a previous owner of the stick?

Neither stick has a ferrule, nor any indication that one was ever fitted. I would think the hardness of the wood makes a ferrule unnecessary.

OK, spiel over; now let's have a look at the pictures. I have positioned these so as to aid comparisons between the two sticks. C053a is on the left throughout (mostly...) (and C053b is on the right, but you've already figured that out)...

C053a (on the left, remember) appears to be somewhat older than C053b, but they both seem to have some age. The version of the flag design (1899 to 1917) doesn't necessarily pin this down, but I feel their appearance would be in keeping with this period.