Curious 19th C. Tintype of Handsome Pair, Shiny Pocket Watch (?) In Mouth carved show or boxed sets like this

or boxed sets like this containing so many

January 1898

but I think it's just a great object to have sitting around

It's also unusual in my experience to find a number of different patterns carved in into both sides of a block as here

Curious 19th C. Tintype of Handsome Pair, Shiny Pocket Watch (?) In Mouth carved show or boxed sets like thisThese two, what a pair. The look like fortune seekers out west during the gold rush era to me, brothers or best friends I'm not sure but clearly with great ease and affection between them, and one imagines they've shared, and will yet share, some great adventures between them. Wonderful faces (how very handsome especially the young man at left), wonderfully laid back postures, and I love the visual rhyme of their crossed legs. But what especially sold