Iron Studded French Boules/Petanque Ball with Cross Pattern, c. 1880s Art Deco bellhop to the tiny shoes of

to the tiny shoes of the one doing the brushing

I'm strangely obsessed with this one

There is one split to the back right side where the hinge is attached

is made of carved water buffalo horn

Scandanavia and the U

Iron Studded French Boules/Petanque Ball with Cross Pattern, c. 1880s Art Deco bellhop to the tiny shoes ofA beauty. I've found one or two of these over the years but it has been quite a while. It is a French petanque ball (petanque a version of boules), and is an early one, c. 1880s; they don't make iron studded ones like this anymore! From what I have learned about examples like this, the interior of the ball is likely olive wood, which was hand shaped and sanded, and then the square iron nails were hammered in one by one, with each nail hole precisely