May You Be Happy, 19th C. Paper Lace Love Token Under Glass christ arm now with one house on

now with one house on it

Quite a lot of effort invested in developing a form that could expand or contract to accommodate a range of measurements

active in the last few decades of the 19th c

From what I can tell it is an extremely rare one

A little wear to the paper along the edges and a little minor staining and age toning

May You Be Happy, 19th C. Paper Lace Love Token Under Glass christ arm now with one house onA beautiful example of one of these layered paper lace and embossed die cut valentines, or love tokens, and an early one c. 1860s 70s I believe. I would guess this one was actually given on the occasion of a birth or christening, with the hopes of a happy life being imparted to the child, and, it looks to me, a babtism occurring at top center though it also looks a bit like a baby in a bird cage! Detail photos give the best sense of the layering and