Alex's Carved Into, Beautifully Worn 19th Century School Slate with Angled Etched Lines drawing of child with a photo of a

with a photo of a woman and several pages of notes--all indications are that it was the deck of a professional card reader/fortune teller

and all the more so filled with a couple of calla lilies

Happy Families is a card game first published in in the 1851

and will buy others if I find them as I think they're excellent

with a nice warm patina to the wood body and creamy white paint

Alex's Carved Into, Beautifully Worn 19th Century School Slate with Angled Etched Lines drawing of child with a photo of aThe second of two antique slates listed today; I just can't resist good old ones, especially very well worn ones, with names carved into the frame here, Alex on one side, and an H on the other. And with more diagonal than straight lines etched into the lower half of the slate on the H side, which I find very beautiful. And quite poetically, the hole for hanging at top center wore all the way through, so another was made just below it. Gorgeous patina