I've bought and sold and otherwise admired a lot of antique slates, but never have I come across one with a rounded corner frame like this one, hand-carved of walnut, I believe, in two parts joined by interlocking wooden pins. Since finding this one I've hunted around online and found just a couple of images of other 19th c round-ish slates, but none with frames joined in quite this way. To my eye it's extraordinary beautiful, and all the better for the residue of old writing on the slate, with some numbers and shapes still visible on one side, and a lightly scratched patch of gridded lines on the other with some more numbers above. I do believe quite a special thing.
8 3/16" t x 6 1/8" w x 3/8" d. Very good condition, with the frame tightly holding the slate with no wiggle. There is a bit of roughness/splitting to the along the edges of the bottom corners, pretty minor and as documented.
