Wonderful Antique Painted Wood Fragment with Birds in a Row carved otter by Richard Thompkins with a tiny bit of

with a tiny bit of cracking to the paint visible on a few of the flowers

as was the case with this whimsy rattle

She reminds me a bit of the strange Creative Playthings family puppets that came along a bit later

Turning the handle rotates one of two colorful round glass slides

Ritter became an important figure in the New York Postwar Avant-Garde scene

Wonderful Antique Painted Wood Fragment with Birds in a Row carved otter by Richard Thompkins with a tiny bit ofI'm not entirely sure from what this painted wooden fragment was salvaged perhaps a piece of moulding, or furniture in a child's room? but I'm sure glad someone saved it, as it's one of my favorite new old things, and quite old indeed I do believe. Two great shades of old blue paint, and then these wonderful hand painted marching red birds in great dark red. I find this about as satisfying as a fragment of an ancient frieze, which I actually think it