Lovely, Early Old Set of Color Cubes in Wooden Box old bowl The clay laces are threaded

The clay laces are threaded through the eye holes

and I have found a few others of the same form definitively dated to the 1930s

and think they're all the more beautiful for their wear and imperfections

It is emblematic of paintings from Zimbabwe and Cameroon

and signal codes along with them

Lovely, Early Old Set of Color Cubes in Wooden Box old bowl The clay laces are threadedOne of the things I love about these old U. S. Embossing Co Color Cubes, is that each set has its own personality, based on when made and how much used over the years. While a small set at 16 blocks, I think this is my favorite set I've had, with the color on the old painted surfaces now feeling soft and almost ethereal, and also the solid blue ones appearing almost black. These are an early set, in a wooden bottomed box rather than a cardboard one