Old Wooden Bookends with 1853 Madison Square Hippodrome Engravings rolling toy One of the things I

One of the things I love most about old folk carved whimsies is that even when representing fairly common forms -- chain links

but when I spotted it (in New Hampshire)

maybe filled with a few bags of dried beans just waiting to be cooked

which clearly he had mastered

a good luck charm

Old Wooden Bookends with 1853 Madison Square Hippodrome Engravings rolling toy One of the things IFound the other day in New Hampshire, I thing these are interesting, and quite beautiful, too. The scallop shaped bookends feature 1853 engravings (one exterior one interior) of the Hippodrome on Madison Square (known as Franconi's Hippodrome), which appear to have been trimmed from the original prints, mounted to wood and varnished over, looking now very much like the surfaces of early lacquered snuff boxes. Franconi's Hippodrome opened May 2, 1853