Instrument consisting of a small profiled rotating axle with a carved wooden handle. Wound on the axle is a cord carrying small bells at regular intervals, which serve as markers for measuring distances. Probably part of a set of mining instruments. Served to wind in coils a rope used for measurements and alignments in mineshaft excavation. Brought to Florence from Germany by Prince Mattias de' Medici in the first half of the seventeenth century.