Vintage Painted Folk Art Carving of Colonial Era Figure celluloid vesta The handle is perfectly worn

The handle is perfectly worn and weathered

and with a super long tail

but which also works for the front

this is a piece that I think only  becomes richer and more affecting the more time one spends with it

Vintage Painted Folk Art Carving of Colonial Era Figure celluloid vesta The handle is perfectly wornI believe the hat and outfit on this carved and painted fellow is Colonial era American, and perhaps he is meant to be a Revolutionary soldier. With hands in his pockets and rather relaxed sort of disposition though, he looks to me poised perhaps for other things. I especially love his large, sort of lumpy nose and partially open red painted mouth, and also the sideward cast of his brown eyes, as if keeping an eye on something, or someone, coming