Antique Cast Iron Figural Shutter Dog wood splitting man carved from one piece of

carved from one piece of wood with the bark left on it

6 7/8" in diameter x 5 3/4" t

No holes or notable stains on the sampler and no losses that I can see

I'm very tempted to keep this one for myself

I'm ever on the hunt for old playing cards with no indices

Antique Cast Iron Figural Shutter Dog wood splitting man carved from one piece ofI didnt actually know what this was when I found it in Maine the other daybut of course I fall in love with things all the time whose original function is a mystery to me! Ive since learned, though, that it is a Shutter dog made to hold a shutter open (dog being an Old English term for fastener). This one, later 19th c. French I believe, functions like a hingethe top half can be locked in place at a 90 degree angle, which would be the shutter pinning