Posted 5 years ago
jmkeene2021
(4 items)
This little curio has been in the family since I was an infant. I'm surprised it survived! I remember glancing into it, as a toddler, wondering & wishing (thinking it was similar to a wishing well). It appears to be made of a type of hardened plastic, and I'm sure it's early 1950's. Anyone ever see one with "hand carved" looking detail?
SOLVED! It's an example of a Japanese anabori Netsuke clamshell diorama, as suggested in the first comment.
Interesting...Japanese carved celluiod...try searching..anabori Netsuke clamshell diorama and go from there
@dav2no1 - I do believe you nailed it, sir! I found several similar, and I'm fairly certain some small figures had gone missing from ours over the decades, and, that's apparent, looking at other examples. I wasn't sure this one would get solved, but you've obviously done just that.
Many thanks!
Joe
You're welcome. I wanted to point you in the proper direction and let you research and discover for yourself since there was multiple examples. It's part of the fun and frustrations if collecting!