Essex Crystal Style White Cat Stick Pin nine pin kegelsport and his pose

and his pose

Plus a hollowed out half walnut shell to pile them into

which led me to learn that images of babies spilling and dropping things (usually in tears) seems to have been a bit of a thing in the early years of the 20th century

and wonderfully irregular

Essex Crystal Style White Cat Stick Pin nine pin kegelsport and his poseI didn't know these were a thing, but have learned that they very much are, some quite finely done, this one more humble but I think pretty charming still. Essex crystals are also known as 'reverse intaglios, ' made of a cabochon of colourless rock quartz that has been carved on the flat side after which the details of the design are painted, creating a three dimensional 'trompe l'oeil effect'. I believe that is the case here, or at least it was made,