Old Wooden Bookends with 1853 Madison Square Hippodrome Engravings rolling toy plus Dorothy-like painted red slippers

plus Dorothy-like painted red slippers

NY made--endless possibilities

I especially love the little flyer in profile on the one I've got turned on its side

One of the things I love most about old folk carved whimsies is that even when representing fairly common forms -- chain links

dated 1856

Old Wooden Bookends with 1853 Madison Square Hippodrome Engravings rolling toy plus Dorothy-like painted red slippersFound the other day in New Hampshire, I thing these are interesting, and quite beautiful, too. The scallop shaped bookends feature 1853 engravings (one exterior one interior) of the Hippodrome on Madison Square (known as Franconi's Hippodrome), which appear to have been trimmed from the original prints, mounted to wood and varnished over, looking now very much like the surfaces of early lacquered snuff boxes. Franconi's Hippodrome opened May 2, 1853