Replica United Nations Gavel

This is a handmade wood replica of the Gavel of Thor, the parliamentary gavel used by the United Nations General Assembly. It is the same size, shape and weight of the original and is made of wood.

The gavel has been in use since 1952 to open and close the annual September meeting of the United Nations, and is ceremonially presented to the next incoming General Assembly president at the close of proceedings.

The original gavel was broken, restored, lost and replaced several times over its long history. While the replacements differ in the type of wood and stain pattern, all bear approximately the same shape, size and style as the original. Depending on whom you ask, the gavel depicts an Icelandic Viking, or a prayerful supplicant with his hands raised in a gesture of peace.

The very first gavel was given to the United Nations in 1952 by Iceland's first permanent representative to the United Nations, Thor Thors, from whom the gavel derives its name. The gift was to commemorate that year's founding of the United Nations on the bank of the East River in New York City. Iceland had convened its first parliament in 930 AD, and is considered the oldest democracy in the world.

The gavel remained fully intact for only a year. The Indian president of the UN General Assembly banged it so hard she chipped it trying to restore order when her fellow countryman, the Indian ambassador to the UN with whom she was particularly cool, was out of order.

The gavel was irreparably damaged seven years later in 1960. The Filipino ambassador pointedly criticized the Soviet regime: "the peoples of Eastern Europe and elsewhere which have been deprived of the free exercise of their civil and political rights and which have been swallowed up, so to speak, by the Soviet Union." Nikita Khrushchev, sitting in the chamber, rose in protest. As the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he spoke passionately in a point-of-order, and brandished his shoe. By some accounts he banged it on the lectern. The Irish president of the General Assembly attempted to restore order, and brought the gavel down so hard that he broke the head off and sent it flying across the General Assembly hall.

Several countries sent replacement gavels. Ultimately, the UN decided to ask Iceland for an exact copy. They provided one in 1961.

The replacement gavel lasted 44 years, from 1961 to 2005, when it simply vanished. There are no details publicly provided about the disappearance.

The UN, again, requested a replacement from Iceland, this time asking for a stronger wood. Iceland obliged in 2005, this time sending a durable pear wood replacement. This gavel managed to make it 18 years, from 2005 to 2023, when it was again damaged.

It took me about a month to make and polish to a high sheen. It is matched to the exact dimensions of the original, approx. 12" x 5" x 1" (30 cm x 13cm x 3cm). It is quite heavy, as you can see in the photo with the scale.

Hand made in the USA.

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Contact: kenneth.jones@gmail.com