The wooden shaft measures four feet and is elaborately decorated but incomplete: it was found broken in two, and both its foot and crook are missing.

Built for St. Columba's (also known as St. Colmcille (d. 597)), the fragment is held at the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin, but is not usually on display.

Following the abbey's dissolution, it was kept by its hereditary keepers, the Mac Geoghegan family, until the mid-19th century.

[2] The barrel shaped knope on the upper shaft is decorated with knotted interlace, and holds now empty settings that once contained studs, most likely of amber.

Later additions include the remnants of a downwards facing animal head on the crest positioned as a protruding wing from the main shaft.