Sculptural Tall 1986 Ball in Cage Whimsy by John Coppess eraser-shaped largest measure 7 x 4

largest measure 7 x 4 1/2"

I especially the yellow borders and how each card features a mini version of itself in the far corners

These were awarded to a young "Master Charley Geoppinger" in the late 1870s or so by a couple of different teachers - two of them for a hundred merits

but I haven't been able to find anything about a Schortmann sign business

I believe it is an old saddle maker’s vise —it would have been attached to a bench with a lever below

Sculptural Tall 1986 Ball in Cage Whimsy by John Coppess eraser-shaped largest measure 7 x 4This particular form, a long and tall ball in cage feeling as much a modernist sculpture as a whimsy, seems to have been the specialty of John E. Coppess of Sunfield, Michigan, who signed it on the bottom, and by whom I found a very similar whimsy several months ago dated 1975! A quick search reveals that Coppess was born in 1910, so would have been well into his 70s when he carved this one, and I have to imagine making it gave him quite a lot of