Don't Forget Mother! Antique Frit Glass Motto Paperweight 1890 playing cards Definitely 19th century and I'd

Definitely 19th century and I'd guess more Civil War era than end of the century

(My guess it that a child many years ago went to work on it with a sharp tool

which would fall in to the genre of a a transformation carving

And someone really cared about either this palette or this painting

which opens all the way out--though one needs to be a bit gentle as the weight of the glass makes it want to tilt forward

Don't Forget Mother! Antique Frit Glass Motto Paperweight 1890 playing cards Definitely 19th century and I'dI've become very taken with old frit glass sentiment motto paperweights (frit essentially means ground glass, used for the text, which floats inside the clear glass orb about midway up). To me they feel close kin to the old silver foil and reverse painted scalloped glass signs that have come so precious, and it is my feeling that these paperweights will become increasingly coveted too, because they're so great looking and of a nice small scale to