Antique Carved Folk Art Whimsy Rattle (with Extra Good Rattling Sound) antique trunk "heliotrope"

"heliotrope"

10 x 7 5/8"

and ready for bed

Some decay to the blue capsules at lower right

likely from another drawing it was stacked atop

Antique Carved Folk Art Whimsy Rattle (with Extra Good Rattling Sound) antique trunk "heliotrope"I've gotten more and more into these old whimsy or puzzle rattles, constructed of carved, interlocking bits like ball in cage type whimsies and the like, each one of these rattles is very much its own thing, reflective of the skills and ambitions of its maker. It was clearly not a master carver who made this one and of course it is its relative humbleness and crudeness that makes this one especially empathetic to me. What they were masterful in,