Viva La Plume! Rhoda Goodrich's Early 19th Century Red and Black Ink Penmanship Sampler carved wooden bowl and seems to rest at

and seems to rest at a weight a bit to the left of zero--but it's still a great little object

joined with a simple brass butterfly clip at top

All in photos included

I know from the seller in Virginia I purchased this from that it came from the personal collection of a senior curator at the Smithsonian who died about 15 years ago

rich and crusty patina

Viva La Plume! Rhoda Goodrich's Early 19th Century Red and Black Ink Penmanship Sampler carved wooden bowl and seems to rest atPhotos don't do much justice to this one a fight with glare and so not especially well lit when I was shooting it but hopefully details give a decent sense. Found in Pennsylvania this summer, it is a very early 1800s penmanship exercise, executed across a two page laid paper folio, in a roughly period frame, as found. And I must say the Viva La Plume in red inked fraktur lettering at top pretty much sold me right away! Then two main passages,