It is the two squirrels with black eyes and bushy tails facing each other at the top corners of this antique beaded frame that completely sold me on it--uncommon and just wonderful. And while I don't always love Iroquois/Mohawk beadwork made for the tourist market around Niagara Falls, this is I think a very fine and lovely and relatively early example (c. 1860s-80s I believe)--and frames are pretty rare to find. Just right, and just the right size for a cdv or tintype. (I've had this oval trimmed tintype portrait sitting around awhile and quite like him in it, so photographed it that way; it's not included, but contact me if interested.)
Overall 6 1/4" t x 4 1/2" w. Frame sight 2 5/8" x 1 3/4". Very good condition, stable and sound and not fragile, with just some loss of blue fabric backing around the squirrels and berries at the top, which one doesn't miss. The ribbon attached at top is separated in two so not a hanging loop, but could be knotted in order to function that way, or one could easily sew a small loop to the top of the back for hanging.
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