While demonstrating the mastery of metal work accompanying the La Tène period, it was not decorated with lavish designs or engravings. The artisan chose to find beauty in simplicity and attention to the fine details of the sea-going vessels of the day. The boat suggests that it was a votive creation for the Celtic sea god Manannán mac Lir and likely represented the profession of the person it was buried with. The use of gold would indicate also that the person being buried with the sculpture was successful at their profession. Gold was used during the La Tène period instead of bronze only in rare cases where one could afford the much higher cost of obtaining the rare metal. .
The boat sculpture is an accurate scaled version of the sea-going vessels of the time. As well as the possibility of it being an offering for the sea god, it could also have represented a tool to be used by the deceased in the afterlife. The artist's attention to the specific tools needed in a boat at the time and including them in their work may indicate some utility of those items to be had by the person they were buried with. The Broighter boat is iconic to Irish culture and art, even being inscribed on the British and Irish one pound coins. .
This knife, held at the British Museum, is a wonderful example of 15th to 16th century AD Aztec craftsmanship. The knife is rich in symbolism and culture in both the materials chosen to create it and the shape and design of the effigy and the blade. Carved from a single piece of wood, the handle is in the form of a crouching eagle knight in full uniform. Every Aztec boy received military training and entered military service at the age of 17, becoming an adult only after capturing their first prisoner. Those warriors, who demonstrated the most bravery along with heroic feats of battle, capturing live prisoners, became eagle or jaguar knights. Eagle knights were soldiers of the sun, as the eagle was the symbol of the sun and were the most feared on the battlefield.