An 18th century crested steel thumb lancet with covers made from solid unmarked but high carat gold bearing the crest of Ponsonby Earl of Bessborough (1739) and Baron of Sysonby in England (1749).

The crest consists of three arrows pointing down, one in pale two in saltire entwined in a snake and arising from a ducal coronet.

Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons. In 1749 he was given the additional title of Baron Ponsonby of Sysonby, in the County of Leicester, in the Peerage of Great Britain, which entitled him to a seat in the British House of Lords. He had seats in Bessborough, Roehamptom and Sysonby and a London town residence at 20 St James’s Square. One of the most ennobled in Britain and Ireland of whom several family members have gained distinction.

I am not aware of another gold shielded thumb lancet.

• From the Phisick collection