This is just over two inches long. The hilt is representative of a 17th-century ribbon hilt, beak-nosed broadsword. There was a great fashion for agate and silver-mounted jewellery in the 1860s and 70s - plaid brooches and miniature dirks were manufactured in the same way. This is probably a tie pin or brooch.

The Electors of the Holy Roman Empire elected the Emperor on the death of the previous incumbent. At its height, there were about 60 Electoral princes and bishops within the Empire, all of whom had the right to vote in the imperial election, but, by the end of the 19th century, it had become a formality with only heraldic significance.