Strange Posture, Curious Gesture, Antique Snapshot of Women in Long Coats and Bonnets antique ship in a bottle with one tiny nail hole

with one tiny nail hole in the wood at upper right

spring tension catching/gripping mechanism

from flower basket to candlestick to snapping turtle

Plus what looks rather like the face of a tiger at the very center of the interior--simultaneously somewhat evocative of a crab

8 1/8" l x 1 1/4" widest diameter and in excellent condition

Strange Posture, Curious Gesture, Antique Snapshot of Women in Long Coats and Bonnets antique ship in a bottle with one tiny nail holeA very curious one, feeling to me like an early film still very striking, but what is going on here? Perhaps the woman in the foreground (what a face!) is in fact on ice skates, which would explain her strange posture, or perhaps she is hiding something or someone behind her skirt? (Is there a child there, bent over, in black too?) And what is the woman behind her with raised arm as if about to chop the air actually doing? I don't know, but in their