Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight male and female

male and female

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

and since cicadas are symbols of  personal renewal and transformation

In its original case

Or in the bedroom

Exquisite Mid 19th C. Watercolor Valentine with Flip Up Handwritten Fortunes snail paperweight male and femaleA 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