Unusual 19th Century Painted and Collaged Pennsylvania Valentine in Silver Gessoed Frame Native American basketry 7" long x 3 7/8"

7" long x 3 7/8" tall and in very good antique condition

I've come to really appreciate the wide variety of repaired or improvised boxes one finds these in

Light wear to the nap of the velvet

but this one I love more for the opposite reason: though very carefully sewn together with tiny red freehand stitches and given a nice cotton backing

I believe) and I've looked at many more (some made as nesting boxes

Unusual 19th Century Painted and Collaged Pennsylvania Valentine in Silver Gessoed Frame Native American basketry 7" long x 3 7/8"Love, love. I found this one in Lancaster County, PA, and it's unlike another I've I've seen, with the hearts and stars constructed of paper, cutout and pasted down, with the manner of painting on them akin to grain painting on wood frames and boxes. Wonderfully bold, fantastically rich color, just great and all the better I think by having done by "your friend, Robert Mallery." The poem reads: Acquaintance is a trivial thing Love, they say is blind