Antique 6 Inch Bone and Silver Ruler with Caliper ice fishing lines with its all-over composition of

with its all-over composition of creatures against solid black ink ground reminding me of some of my favorite Medieval tapestries (I've included one example in photos) and also hand-painted designs on antique Chinese ceramics

glossy surface that turns black on exposure to air

on the other hand

and I'm pretty fussy about the ones I like

evokes a cluster of seaweeds and corals as much as it does a floral arrangement

Antique 6 Inch Bone and Silver Ruler with Caliper ice fishing lines with its all-over composition ofStanley and a few other tool makers produced beautiful bone rulers, which bear their marks, but I've looked and looked and not found another like this one. There are no readable measures on the bone, but on the both sides of the silver end on are marks for 4 and 5 inches, and then the caliper pulls out to measure 2 inches, with each inch divided into 32nds on the flip side. Probably more of a beautiful thing than a super useful tool these days, but