Antique School Slate with SLATE Etched In mourning now completely hardened and smooth

now completely hardened and smooth

in absence of a face

and I love the idea of a "Deposite No

dating to the 15th century I believe

Antique School Slate with SLATE Etched In mourning now completely hardened and smoothI love an antique school slate, and even more one that bears the traces of a prior owner, and of course I'm drawn like a magnet to things relating to language, especially when self descriptive. On one side of this one, etched into the slate, is "SLATE" itself, handwritten in capital serif lettering, which sure looks to me as if written in the 19th century based on the manner of the lettering. Perhaps the child who wrote it imagined with great