French Soldiers and Sailors Painted Wooden Skittle Set bird in cage The woven detail is executed

The woven detail is executed in what looks to be raffia

and of the brilliance of artist

There are some very fancy little antique shoe-shaped snuff boxes out there with all sorts of inlays and flourishes

with some paint loss on the corners and one side particularly and some scratching to the plexiglass consistent with use

and general signs of wear consistent with age

French Soldiers and Sailors Painted Wooden Skittle Set bird in cage The woven detail is executedI have a weakness for old figurative skittles or nine pins, and hard to beat a set of nine that includes both soldiers AND sailors! I'm not entirely sure if they were a combined set to begin with or came together at some later point, but I am pretty certain they are French, and 1940s at the latest. The outfits and colors are great, and I especially love the facial expressions, with eyes all looking in one direction, as if toward a rolling ball coming