Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight 8 1/4" x 4" x

8 1/4" x 4" x 5/8" as mounted to wood block via nice bit fat nails

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

hand-painted pink face

and since cicadas are symbols of  personal renewal and transformation

Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight 8 1/4" x 4" xA 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