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Hi, Can anyone tell what the cause of death is, I can't make out the writing
Many thanks if you can help.

...Just had a beer and brain is now thinking. Is it possible that the coat of arms on this tipstaff is a personal coat of arms rather than that of an official office? I was looking through a very long list of mayors for Oxford, and there is many of them, and wondered if it could belong to one of them? The coa looks to be very simple in nature. Possibly a mayor had it made for his own personal use? Just a thought.

It can't be from the City of Oxford, as the arms are wrong.

Webster's College Dictionary says:
tip•staff (ˈtɪpˌstæf, -ˌstɑf)

n., pl. -staves (-ˌsteɪvz)
-staffs.
1. an attendant or crier in a court of law.
2. a staff tipped with metal, formerly carried as a badge of office, as by a constable.
3. any official who carried such a staff.

Other dictionaries say much the same.
That was why I suggested the Oxford City Police?
The addition of the anchors makes me think it might have been the River Authority, or River Police?
The coronets (NB not crowns!) look to me like civic coronets? But as they are a charge on the field, rather than a crest, they could mean almost anything?!

I tried all the colleges at Oxford University, but none of their Arms are even close.

In summary, I would say it's a civic office, connected to Oxford City.

KGarrard... Thanks very much for your input, I very much like your research! however... I am starting to sway away from the idea that it is even a tipstaff as such and used by a representative of the law, purely because of the delicate construction of it. It is an easy item to snatch and snap in half in the face of an offender, it is in no way a sturdy enough object for the use that I originally thought, I could be very wrong though. I like the idea put forward by Scouseboy in that "It may have been the symbol of office  held by the Town Clerk  of the City of Oxford." and that it may well have served its life as a desktop symbol of authority object.

Thank you both for your efforts it is much appreciated! I am a complete novice to Heraldry and such like although I am now taking much more interest in the subject since my Father passed away last December. He was a big collector of police memorabilia, and heraldry etc is used in so many ways in the forces. You are welcome to take a look at a site I have dedicated to him, found here http://alan.swain.me.uk/

The mention of river police is a good suggestion as there being 'anchors' in the coat of arms although I am not sure of the use of crowns. I did find three crowns relating to the Bishop of Oxford. Was/is there a Bishops Palace like we have here in Peterborough? A Church Wardens tipstaff? Cathedral related??

Universities, yes, colleges, how many of them are there and have any been sold in the past or ceased to exist?

Dating the tipstaff at a very rough guess, I'd put it at say 1850 possibly earlier. Universities did indeed use them surprisingly, as I have one of my fathers for Cambridge, reference number 15 here... http://alan.swain.me.uk/truncheons.htm

Hopefully some of the ideas here will get viewers of this thread to chip in. The Tipstaff certainly is a genuine item and someone somewhere would know just what it was used for and where. Thanks again!

Laurence.

Edit: Just a little more info, the coat of arms is on a 'silver' curved disc mounted on the wooden baton, just incase one wonders what the black stains are.