Antique Pressed Seaweed Specimen #1, c. 1850s indurstrial Nicely carved and balls roll

Nicely carved and balls roll around freely

with a satisfying tension between positive and negative space and between the larger and smaller black forms

Photos document all pages excepting a few blank pages at the end

I'd guess it dates to the 1920s or so

persisting underneath the array of cut marks

Antique Pressed Seaweed Specimen #1, c. 1850s indurstrial Nicely carved and balls rollSince finding a bundle of antique seaweed pressings from the Isle of Wight a few months ago, I've been looking for more, and so was thrilled to recently find a portfolio of seven of them. They came nicely preserved inside a large piece of paper with folded edges, with "Specimens of Sea Weeds for Mrs. Bindle" hand written on the front. There is a watermark on one piece dated 1852 with the printer name A. Pirie & Sons, who were located in Aberdeen,