Whimsical Four Part Carved Whimsy antique wood frame Its got a wonderful wonderful

Its got a wonderful wonderful patina

I love the shape of the middle fingers on these

by French astronomer Warren de la Rue during the total solar eclipse in 1860--and how beautiful they are

at lower right--which I think is the most challenging of the lot

Among my very favorite tiny animal in the Critical EYE collection is this wonderful Inuit hand-carved polar bear

Whimsical Four Part Carved Whimsy antique wood frame Its got a wonderful wonderfulI'm guessing this whimsical whimsy once had at least a couple of more parts, such that one end would hook into the other. If so, they are long gone, but the ones that remain are pretty fun, and nicely carved, showing off quite a variety of skills! One end of the corkscrew like section is no longer a complete loop, but is tightly tied to the next piece with the string hardened, perhaps with some old glue, and would take some work to get apart. The