With a bit of searching, I've actually found a few other examples of leather wallets (I think actually cigarette cases) with hand-tooled and hand drawn designs on their fronts, made in Oran 1943-45 (in WW2 the city, on the NW coast of Algeria, was one of the landing points for the first American action in the Europe-North Africa theatre, and I have to guess this wallet travelled back to the U.S. with a soldier stationed there). No others I have found remotely compare to this one, though! The more earnest and awkward the better for me, and I think she's a pretty terrific example of both--but also might be read as carrying all sorts of wartime connotations relative to surrender and liberation, which lends her a whole other dimension and complexity. Things are never as simple as they seem--though certainly desire never ceases!:)
3 1/2" t x 3" w. Excellent condition, appearing never to have been used or worn. Dated Feb 19, 1945.
