Enigmatic Carved Folk Art Bust tabletop frames and this is a nicely

and this is a nicely aged

with a nice warm patina to the dry wood

and wonderful illustrations throughout

with the gold bordered "handshake" pin at top and "all seeing eye" at center

String binding is very tight

Enigmatic Carved Folk Art Bust tabletop frames and this is a nicelyEvery time I look at this carving, I see it differently sometimes thinking it is a woman represented and sometimes a man; sometimes thinking African American and sometimes thinking it feels a bit Germanic or even Dutch. My best guess is it is a portrait of a black woman, and that the carving is American, but I don't know for sure. In any case, I really like how expressionistic it feels in addition to its elusiveness, which is amplified by the darkness