Tiny Carved Wooden Skull Paper Knife greyhound plate Text on each dish identifies

Text on each dish identifies the characters and their professions: Guignol himself

especially when they relate to baseball

I have a soft spot for old folky inlaid frames like this

As configured: 14 4/8" w x 9 3/4" t x 5" d

and would be pretty great in an entryway offering an unforgettable spot to toss one's keys

Tiny Carved Wooden Skull Paper Knife greyhound plate Text on each dish identifiesI find this rather a haunting little carving, I assume meant to serve as a letter opener, and certainly with well more than a hundred years on it I have to think it has opened some letters bearing pretty sad news. The skull itself is tiny, but reads very clearly as a skull, which I've shot with some magnification to get a better sense of its details, which make it look a bit more crude than with viewed by the eye alone. Pretty amazing. 4" long; skull