Modern Prophecy, Early 19th C. Engraved Brass Snuff Box with Imagined Flying Machine wooden gear These were observed

These were observed

adding up to the perfect bowl

Black and red ink on lined paper

It’s not too often that I buy a piece of Asian lacquerware

and most definitely frame worthy

Modern Prophecy, Early 19th C. Engraved Brass Snuff Box with Imagined Flying Machine wooden gear These were observedThis! My very favorite Brimfield find I think a Georgian (earlyish 19th c. British) snuff box, engraved with the "Modern Prophecy" of a flying machine. I love archaic futuristic visions of all sorts, and what a marvelous example this one is, with what looks like a steam powered mail box flapping its wings as it takes off from an elevated platform. Certainly the 19th century was full of ideas for air travel, fueled in part from the late 18th c.