Strap hammer with octagon face and rip claw

Description

This is a very unusual design for a strap hammer.  Normally, strap hammers have no eye in the head — instead, the head is forge-welded to two straps that then surround the handle and secure the head.  This one’s different — the “straps” act as wedges to secure the handle into the eye in the hammer head.  I suspect this may be a patented invention, but thus far haven’t found it.

Handle is original and in excellent condition.  A one-of-a-kind tool, it seems to have been manufactured (that is, it’s not a blacksmith’s one-off) but I see no maker’s mark on it.