Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight with the letter and numbers

with the letter and numbers I assume referring to the bottle type (and there are more handwritten notations on the back side

really no loss not to have the hinge

pleasuring kids and adults alike

They were/are display/salesman sample boards showing a variety of metal (I believe largely brass) edgings for round

Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight with the letter and numbersA rare and special thing this one, a fortune telling valentine of sorts, which I purchased from a great paper dealer in Pennsylvania, who had kept it in his personal collection for some years. A gorgeous watercolor taken at face value, but under most every leaf and bloom is a hidden message, revealed when one flips that bit up (and so a pretty intricate work of cut paper, too.) I especially love the fact that many of those messages are the opposite of