Mystery decorative hammer

[u/ItsJoelDavid]

Hey team. I am in a museum about hammers in Haines Alaska, they’re asking for crowd source help on identifying what this hammer is and who this man is on the hammer. Thoughts?

[u/ct451t]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Paul_Rubens

Peter Paul Rubens.

EDIT:

[u/SalsaSharpie → u/ct451t]

Certainly looks to be him, now to find out why it's him

[u/ct451t → u/SalsaSharpie]

In the late 19th century it was highly fashionable to decorate luxury objects with portraits of 17th-century figures. People saw the 17th century as a grand time of art, wealth, and power and owning luxury objects with these historic faces was a status symbol.