About as naive an old carved "acrobat" toy as it gets, which is why I really I love it. I learned from a note accompanying this sweet thing that it was published in Eleanor Lakin's 2013 Folk Art for Children: Handmade in America 1760-1940. (Well worth checking out, lots of fabulous things featured alongside this one!) I presume it was the creation of a young "Neal, Fifth Grade," which is written in graphite on one side of the face. Penciled features and a bit of green paint on the flip side, and some more very naive graphite drawn details on his dark red painted body. With what I believe are all the original wires joining the figure's limbs; he's not super graceful, but he's pretty limber and will move through a progression of positions charmingly as one manipulates the stick to which his wrists are attached.
Post is 14 1/2" tall; 2 5/8" across at belly when hanging straight down. All in very good antique condition, all the better for age and surface wear.
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