Bottle whimsies always blow my mind, but this one pretty much explodes it! Much better experienced in person than in photographs, housed inside this large bottle is a wooden house with red roof and blue trim sitting on red painted wooden platform, with a figure smoking a cigar sitting on the porch and two figures inside looking out the tiny windows! The sides of the house are decorated with hand-drawn trees and flowers and blue painted curtains, while a whimsy with pencil drawn bricks sits atop it and a fluttering flag, once attached to the roof, floats around. The person who made this definitely knew what they were doing and surely made quite a few, so I'm rather surprised it is not signed, though perhaps their name or initials are hidden somewhere! The carved stopper has a cross piece so is never coming out, and from what I've learned about these is also the mark of an accomplished maker--as if that wasn't already clear!
7 3/4" t x 2 7/8" d. Very good condition, with the only flaw being the flag which at some point broke off the top of the house, but with a little jiggling around can be positioned in a good spot, still flying (pretty) high! I would guess 1940s or so.
