knit for a child (or an adult with very small hands) quite a long time ago
At its height it was celebrated by some 120 communities
maybe somehow good for fortune telling
but I think the more humble (though still completely baffling to me
I believe and all the more charming in person
Scarce and Special Feeling British Victorian Kaleidoscope with Treen Eyepiece vintage Haitian art knit for a child (orI'm always on the hunt for old kaleidoscopes, very happy when I find a homemade one, but this is something else, and the most beautiful I've seen a Victorian example, made in England, with this gorgeous treen (turned wood) eye piece, which feels to me like the very essence icon of kaleidoscope. The body is pasteboard, with elegant printed paper wrap, and tin around the glass end, partially wrapped in brown paper embossed with a leaf and vine pattern.