Wonderful Old Hand-carved Bird Shaped Box gift for the scholar and characterizing this in my

and characterizing this in my mind as a "transformation" card-- a type of playing card where the pips are incorporated into an image

It is about as make-do as it gets

This fabulous thing is a carved wood whistle in the shape of a bird

And then on the backs are clever rhymes for each

Wonderful Old Hand-carved Bird Shaped Box gift for the scholar and characterizing this in myI was delighted to find this one in New Hampshire the other day, which I presume was made as a snuff box, 19th c American I would guess. (It would really also be the perfect box for holding the tiny bone dice I just listed!) Such an elegant form suggesting a bird through the sparest of means (it feels to me quite reminiscent of early Native American bird stones), wider for the body and gracefully tapering toward the gently pointing beak. I also love