Well, to start, Will, neither of your handles are the correct ones, if the paddles are marked 981 and 999. It looks like your top handle is one that goes with an Andresen KrumKake iron. I just checked mine, and it looks the same as your top one. The correct handles for the waffle iron are straight, with no carving. I think they could easily be made from dowels. The end of each one is rounded and they are painted a gloss black.
I was interested in the ghost writing under the Andresen name, Ed. I checked all of mine, and none have ghost writing!
I took the handle out, so you could see what it looks like. It is exactly 4 3/16 inches long. The diameter is 5/8 inch. I would take the paddle to the store, and see if you can wiggle a 5/8" dowel into the paddle. The part that goes into the paddle is a little compressed, I suppose from forcing it in. Also in the photo is a pic of the nail.....okay, I'm trying to help Ed with his authenticity. As I said before, the handle is rounded toward the end, and the rounding starts 1/4" from the bottom of the dowel. I will leave the handle out for a few days, so if you need me to trace or scan it and email it to you, let me know.