Unusual 19th Century Painted and Collaged Pennsylvania Valentine in Silver Gessoed Frame Native American basketry Such a fabulous fellow

Such a fabulous fellow

he looks to me like the one off creation of a skilled metalsmith

who found them tucked in the back of a late 19th century scrapbook

it feels to me Native American

I've come to really appreciate the wide variety of repaired or improvised boxes one finds these in

Unusual 19th Century Painted and Collaged Pennsylvania Valentine in Silver Gessoed Frame Native American basketry Such a fabulous fellowLove, love. I found this one in Lancaster County, PA, and it's unlike another I've I've seen, with the hearts and stars constructed of paper, cutout and pasted down, with the manner of painting on them akin to grain painting on wood frames and boxes. Wonderfully bold, fantastically rich color, just great and all the better I think by having done by "your friend, Robert Mallery." The poem reads: Acquaintance is a trivial thing Love, they say is blind