Victorian Dried Seaweed Pressing, Isle of Wight #7 travel writing box and now are pretty rare

and now are pretty rare to find--after spending a little time building with this one

but I really love the "WHITE" and "BLACK" carved at the opposite ends of this one

I love a little carved shoe

perhaps in part because of the fabulous nature of the platypus itself

But it is the expression on the face of the man at the center upon which I think the painting hinges-- elusive

Victorian Dried Seaweed Pressing, Isle of Wight #7 travel writing box and now are pretty rareThis is among the two largest of a handful of small seaweed pressings I purchased together, which I think are just exquisitely beautiful! A few of them are signed and dated at bottom, others initialed on back, and a few like this one unsigned, so they represent the work of a few different people, most likely young women, among whom seaweed collecting and pressing was quite the thing during the Victorian era. I love the fact that making these