I've found a few examples out there of WWI era trench art standing picture frames carved in a very similar manner from (and most often in the shape of) propeller wings, housing photographs of military aircraft. I presume this is one of that sort, though can't say with certainty if carved from the actual propeller wood of the plane pictured (or another propeller for that matter!)
The plane in the photograph here is a Curtiss HS-2L, a World War I-era patrol flying boat built for the US Navy, then gifted to Canada in 1919 (remember when we were friendly?), becoming instrumental in establishing early Canadian civil aviation, used by the Air Board and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) for forestry patrol, anti-smuggling, fire detection, and aerial photography mapping across rugged remote wilderness. This specific photograph shows one of those planes, the G-CYAE, in flight, I believe over Canadian wilderness near Quebec, early 1920s. I have to think the original maker of this frame was a pilot of that plane, but I do not know for certain. Certainly the frame was custom carved to house it, and quite an excellent relationship between frame and photo, evincing the sense that one was steering another plane just above the one pictured, keeping it squarely (roundly!) in its sights.
6 1/8" l x 4 3/4". Very good condition, with just a little roughness to the wood on along the edges on the back side of the frame, no matter. Found in New Hampshire.
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