This item has rolled around on the deck of a cursed pirate ship, been bitten by an undead monkey, used to bind and unbind a Demi-god as one of the 9 pieces of 8, and has now ended up on my wall. While this prop is specifically from the first film, it is certainly used as an important plot device throughout the series. It is (surprisingly) made of wood and is actually about the size one would expect. The skull in the photo is a screen matched prop from Captain Jack’s throne on Canibal Island in the second film.
More from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)