It looks like it could be a very VERY old anchor for a small boat?

From a sign - the Bar X ranch or a store sign?
Is there a locale nearby with an X in the name, or a street?

KarinL

RE: the bronze cross.

It is a old method of payment, used in mainly central Africa and Saharan Africa.
Beore the advent of eurpopean coins etc, cowries or shells were used, including salt for payments.

It is generally associated in the the American context, with the comming of age of a Nation, and the ugly legacy of the
slave trade across the Atlantic.
You are probably holding a piece of history relating to the slave trade, from the Gold Coast of Africa and into the US.

Probably brough back by a sailor, or slave trader from Africa.
Most certainly, a 19th century artifact. It really belongs in a museum.
On such objects I will not discuss values, as it goes agaist the grain.

Yours etc....DL

It might be a "Katanga Cross", which was used for money in the copper-mining regions of the Congo.

Here is a link that might be useful: Katanga Cross