Tiny Carved Wooden Skull Paper Knife greyhound plate produced by Gerstendorfer Bros New

produced by Gerstendorfer Bros New York

especially when they relate to baseball

and that the pointed horizontal ends make it look a little like a weapon

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

dated 1883-84

Tiny Carved Wooden Skull Paper Knife greyhound plate produced by Gerstendorfer Bros NewI 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