My mother-in-law is an antiques dealer and through her I occasionally come across things I like enough to add to my oddball collection of curious treasures. This is a score keeper for playing Bridge. It is made of brass and has really beautiful embossed design on the front cover. It was originally made by the company Beau Brummell which was a British men’s clothing and grooming company.
As beautiful as this heavy brass piece is, they likely thought of this as a kind of toss off give away to entice customers. Kind of like getting a toy with your happy meal. Buy some expensive things and they’ll toss in a free gift. I love that this is so. Look at how serious they were about making a simple thing that in the present era would be a cheap plastic thing at best. I often long for an era in which things were made well and made to last, rather than the mostly disposable items of our time.
That being said, it is heavy and sturdy and brass and just sitting there since I don’t play Bridge. So I cut up some watercolor paper and voila! It is now my little watercolor journal.
Clockwork Gypsy's Creative Space 