Carved, Painted Old Folk Art Whimsy with Glass Marble Ball (ex. Matt King collection) painting on wooden paddle completely symbolic

completely symbolic

but it would also be the perfect plate for carrying a bedtime snack

I really love an old hand-cut stencil

dates it 1832–1857

Carved, Painted Old Folk Art Whimsy with Glass Marble Ball (ex. Matt King collection) painting on wooden paddle completely symbolicI watched this one recently come and go in at auction as part of the late dealer collector Matt King's estate, one in a lot of several objects. (With most everything fetching prices way beyond me, I gave up.). But then this little whimsy showed up elsewhere (I guess the buyer bought the lot for something else in it) so I grabbed it. How that marble got inside is a bit less of a mystery than I thought (one short end shows a diagonal cut, so the wood